Unexpected Paths: A New Life
by Kris Pilar
Summary: Lucy Wendell was just a typical engineer, drifting from one freelance job to another. She thought Feros would be no different, but it turned out she was horribly wrong. Things only become more complicated when help finally comes...in the form of one Commander Zachary Shepard, the first human Spectre. (Follows events of ME1)
1. Prologue

_**Prologue:**_

Rural and boring. That was the perfect way to describe almost any place engineer Lucy Wendell worked. The colony of Zhu's Hope on Feros was no exception. Lucy had been hired on hired on by ExoGeni company to keep the equipment and vehicles up and running while they picked apart a dead planet for artifacts that were probably long-since gone already.

It wasn't the first time Lucy had this type of job and she doubted it would be the last. People always talked about how space was dangerous. Going on archeological digs or founding new colonies were risks. Because of that, people were always hiring on extra hands. People to do repairs and could fight and Lucy was one of those types. With a mother in C-Sec and a sister in the Alliance, Lucy definitely knew how to use a gun. She would have been disowned otherwise.

Unfortunately, the reality wasn't nearly as exciting as the vids made it out to be. Sure, there was the risk of a pirate or mercenary attack, but they were few and far between. Lucy sometimes went months and made it through an entire job without ever having to pull out her gun, except to scare off the local vermin. Still, it was good-paying work and Lucy got to travel. And Lucy liked the travel. She liked visiting these places, no matter how boring they were, because she liked meeting people. She liked making friends. Besides, it wasn't like she traveled alone. She always had Drake.

Lucy glanced to the mech dog sitting at her feet as she tried to repair the connections between the terminal that had come offline. As far as anyone was concerned, Drake was a simple V.I. guard mech. No one, not even Lucy's family, knew that she'd illegally programmed Drake as an A.I. She'd learned that V.I.s were just too slow in a fight, too prone to mistakes and friendly fire, too easily hacked. Programming him as a simple A.I., he was a lot faster and a lot smarter, not to mention a lot more friendly and likeable. He was as fiercely loyal as any breathing dog and Lucy didn't need a permit for him. Plus, he never needed fed or walking, never needed a vet visit, and Lucy never had to worry about him crapping on the carpet. He was the perfect pet.

"What's taking you so long out there?"

Lucy groaned, closing her dark hazel eyes for a moment as the annoying voice came from her Omni-tool strapped to her wrist. She was on her back under the computer systems, unable to access any earpieces easily so she had just made sure calls came through on her Omni-tool instead. Unfortunately, that meant anyone in the room could hear what was being said over them.

"These things take time, Mr. Jeong," Lucy said, trying to keep her tone polite. She didn't need to get fired, after all. "It's what I was hired to do. Come out here and fix things, but I can't do it instantaneously."

"Obviously you aren't doing your job right if you have to keep going back out there."

"Or it could be because ExoGeni refuses to give us anything that actually works."

Lucy snorted at the voice from the person at the terminal above her. It was no secret that Juliana Baynehm had little love for the man who'd shown up the week before for evaluations on the company. It was an opinion Lucy shared with the woman. She liked both Juliana and her daughter, Lizbeth. They'd become good friends in the month Lucy had been working there at ExoGeni, and were the only ones Lucy had managed to befriend. Well, aside from the one colonist who came by from time to time bringing anything they thought might be valuable. For some reason, shortly after Lucy arrived, ExoGeni had started forbidding anyone to go out to Zhu's Hope colony. Not even for artifacts. It was up to the colonists to gather them and bring them to ExoGeni. The company obviously thought very highly of itself.

"I'm nearly done here," Lucy told Ethan Jeong, "I take it there's something else I need to fix?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Jeong said sharply, "The colonists just called about a new artifact, but their rover has broken down on the skyway. They need someone to come out and repair it."

So that's why Jeong was more grouchy than usual. Artifacts were on the line. All that man cared about was profit. Lucy heard Juliana give a snort above and could just picture the woman currently rolling her eyes.

"I'll get to it as soon as I'm done here," Lucy said and cut off the call before Jeong could say anything else, "That man is an ass."

"He's here to evaluate us, remember?" a new voice came from nearby, belonging to young Lizbeth, "If he doesn't think we're making any profit, he'll shut down the colony."

Lucy didn't know if that would be a good or bad thing. Feros was a wasteland, long since picked clean. Nothing they found so far had been worth anything. Yet, the people developing the colony here had been there for years now. They were making a home of this place. Lucy had only been here a month, after all. She didn't know what it had to be like for them, putting so much time and effort into building something just to have it ripped away.

"I think I've got this thing connected again," Lucy said, pulling herself out from under the terminal and sitting up, reaching up to tighten her brown hair held back in a low ponytail, "Or as good as it's going to get. I'll probably get called back out here tomorrow."

Either for that or the damn bay door that kept frying itself and slamming shut. They'd nearly lost a couple employees last time that happened. Everything in this place was falling apart, and Lucy was the only engineer ExoGeni bothered to hire on. At least the job kept her busy.

"You should get going to that rover," Juliana said with a kind grin, helping Lucy to her feet, "You're still coming to dinner though, right?"

"Of course. Anything's better than the food rations I have."

Lucy bade her friends goodbye before slinging her tool bag over her shoulder. She gave Drake a pat on the head to let him know it was time to go, then headed off down the stairs and out of ExoGeni, completely bypassing the makeshift garage. Of course driving would be faster, but Lucy liked to walk. Besides, it meant prolonging getting to the site to make repairs. That meant even longer before ExoGeni could get their artifacts that would prove to be worthless. And that meant pissing off Ethan Jeong.

Lucy was petty that way.

Besides, she liked the long, silent walks, just her and Drake taking the time to enjoy the scenery. Feros, despite being a wasteland, definitely had plenty of scenery. Once she was out of sight of ExoGeni, Lucy paused to climb up on top of the pile of rubble that kept vehicles from accidentally falling from the skyway.

Lucy was no history buff. Unless it was related to technology, she couldn't care less about the past, especially when it came to the protheans. They had been dead for centuries, what did it matter what their culture was like? But she had to admit, even she could tell the view in front of her had a certain...hold to it. Seeing a civilization reduced to nothing but a planet full of crumbling skyscrapers was an eerie, yet oddly beautiful sight. Some of Lucy's favorite places to relax were in areas like this, looking over the ruins the scientists were so insistent on raiding and studying. She liked them the way they were, however. Overrun by nature. Let what was there be lost, as far as she thought. It wasn't going to change the world, so why bother?

Lucy shook off the thoughts, reminding herself she had work to do. Unfortunately, she didn't feel like moving off her perch.

"Remind me to sort through my holos later, Drake," she said, "And pick which one I'm going to send Mom."

Whenever Lucy was away, she only got to send messages home once a month. After all, prices of an extranet connection when you were lightyears from any habitable place usually ended up taking Lucy's entire monthly wage, even with her keeping the messages short and attaching maybe only one holo. At least she could give her mother the full story when she went back home once her sixth-month contract was up.

There was a high-pitched buzzing sort of noise that Lucy knew all too well. She grinned, looking down to the mech waiting for her on the skyway. His usually pale purple light had turned yellow, a clear sign he was annoyed.

"Settle down, I'm coming," Lucy said, "I just wanted a break."

Drake gave a disapproving line of buzzing clicks.

"Oh come on," Lucy laughed as she hopped down from her ledge onto the skyway, "We can't all have the endless supply of energy you robots do."

There was a short click and the little mech shook his head. His way of a snort, Lucy had learned. She laughed again, patting her mech on the head.

"Okay, I'm going. Come on."

The pair, mechanic and robotic dog, started back along the skyway. Lucy wondered if it was going to be the same colonist at the rover again. She didn't know why Zhu's Hope fixated on only Fai Dan to bring the artifacts every time, but it was always him. Lucy thought he was nice enough, but could it really hurt to send someone new for a change?

Unfortunately, Lucy never got a chance to find out who was at the rover this time around. She didn't even get a chance to get to where she could see it in the distance. A loud roaring filled the air around Lucy, shaking the skyway under her feet. Drake instantly went on alert as Lucy grew still. Had there been some sort of explosion? Or an earthquake toppled some of the buildings? Was the very skyway she was standing on about to go plummeting to the planet surface below?

It turned out it was none of those things, but Lucy found herself wishing it had been. Odd shadows were forming over the skyway and Lucy's face turned skyward almost automatically. Coming down from the sky were dozens of massive ships unlike any Lucy had ever seen before. Lucy knew this was no pirate attack, or mercenaries. They always came in a single ship and tried to be a lot more subtle about it until it was too late to act. This, whatever it was, seemed to be far worse.

Lucy was frozen, unable to look away from the descending ships—which she found herself vaguely thinking looked a bit like giant shrimp, though the comparison didn't comfort her. The back of her mind called for her to run, to get to the colony or to ExoGeni to warn them, but Lucy couldn't move. Her body was ignoring the commands her brain was screaming at it. Her eyes could not look away from the invading ships.

Something shook the skyway again, this time hard enough to knock Lucy to the ground. On hands and knees, she could hear Drake letting out long, harsh buzzing noises and when she glanced to him, his glowing light had gone an aggressive red. Lucy could feel herself trembling from more than just the shaking ground as she glanced up in the distance.

And immediately felt as if she'd been thrown into a near-frozen pond. She was on the top of a makeshift ramp from a fallen part of skyway, and down at the bottom were about a half-dozen robotic creatures, varying in size and shape though they all had one identical detail: Their heads were curved, forming up into a single lit eye. Lucy had never been one for history, but even she knew what these robots were. What destruction they had caused centuries ago. They were the Geth.

"Oh shit."


	2. Chapter One

_**Chapter One: Risky Plans**_

Lucy felt as if she were trapped in a nightmare. Two weeks of horror that she couldn't escape. She had never even made it back to ExoGeni in time to warn them of Geth. They'd already arrived, already shooting down innocents. People Lucy knew by passing acquaintance lay dead. Lucy felt sick, trying to keep from thinking about it. Though even now, two weeks later, Lucy just had to close her eyes and instantly see Geth closing in, helpless employees being shot down...

Drake gave a soft, warning click and Lucy sat up on her cot to see Juliana coming over. She sat next to the mechanic and handed her a half-full bottle of water. Lucy took it with a weak smile.

"Rations are getting low," Juliana said, "We won't last much longer."

"We have to get to the port," Lucy replied as she took a small sip of the water—they had to make it last, "There has to be some colonists alive, right? They can't all have been wiped out, Maybe some found somewhere to hide. We can get their help getting a ship going. We can escape."

"Not without Lizbeth."

Lucy didn't say anything. Juliana was convinced her daughter, who never made it out of the ExoGeni building, was still alive somewhere in the ruins. That's where most of the Geth were, blocking communications from getting out. There was no way Lizbeth was still alive.

But maybe Lucy could find a way to sneak through...An idea started forming slowly. Lucy had Drake, and he was far better than going out alone. If she could stay out of sight long enough to find what was powering the communications blocker, she could send a message for help.

There was one problem, however. Lucy looked towards Ethan Jeong nearby. He wasn't letting anyone leave their makeshift base hidden between levels in the skyway. He kept insisting the colonists were dead and the docks overrun by Geth, that there was no point in trying to get there. Their only choice was to wait for rescue. Rescue that wouldn't come unless some type of message was sent out. Lucy needed to get to ExoGeni and stop whatever the Geth were doing to block communications. She glanced over to Juliana, her mind racing.

"Do you think you can distract Jeong?" Lucy asked after a moment, "Give me enough time to slip out? If I can get to ExoGeni, maybe I can get a message out. And try to find Lizbeth."

Lucy felt a little guilty playing to Juliana's motherly instinct. She didn't think Lizbeth could possibly be alive, and it felt wrong to use it to get help. But if it helped rescue everyone, it was a guilt Lucy would just have to deal with.

"I can keep him occupied," Juliana said as she stood up, "I'll start sending out messages on the short-range communicator. Maybe there are people in Zhu's Hope. It'll piss off Jeong, and let the colonists know they're not alone. If anyone's left."

Lucy found herself thinking that she would love to stay and see Jeong's face when Juliana started using the terminal, but it would be a rather useless distraction if Lucy didn't sneak out as planned. Instead, Lucy watched long enough to make sure when the coast was clear. She watched Juliana head towards a communications terminal nearby, making a big display out of booting it up and attracting as much attention as she could. As expected, Jeong noticed quickly.

"Hey, get away from there!"

This was Lucy's chance. With everyone's attention on Juliana, Lucy and her mech were able to slip out easily. She grinned, feeling maybe a little too proud of herself as she made her way up to the skyway. The second she reached the top of the ramp, however, her self-victory disappeared. She had forgotten a very huge flaw in this plan.

How the hell was she going to get past the Geth? She was just one woman. She had no armor, a crappy second-hand pistol, and a mech. Sure, Drake was a good mech (even if he was a junk-yard rescue) but even he could only go so far. And she wasn't going to risk him being destroyed just to get her a bit further along the skyway. She'd put too many hours into programming the damn thing.

Maybe if she was quick and kept to the upper side...It could work. The Geth probably wouldn't notice one lone human, right? Taking a deep breath, Lucy headed on up the last bit of the ramp and into the Feros sunlight. She shaded her eyes, looking out at the group of Geth gathered up ahead. She hadn't even had time to count how many there were when she heard the sound of a ship coming into atmosphere. At first, she thought it was just another round of Geth until she glanced up towards it.

That was no Geth ship. It seemed vaguely turian, though a bit smaller. Lucy could see something written on the side, but it was too far up to make out what it was. Lucy was just confused, however. What was a turian ship doing out here at a human colony? Unless...

"Rescuers!" Lucy's heart began racing with excitement. If someone was here, she didn't need to get to ExoGeni to send a message. She needed to get to the docks. Lucy doubted all of Zhu's Hope was dead, but someone still needed to let these newcomers know there were more than just the colonists still alive. She had to work fast.

"Change of plans, Drake," Lucy said, starting back down the tunnel, "We're going to Zhu's hope."

Unfortunately, as Lucy got to the lower level of skyways, she realized she still had the exact same problem as before. How to get past the Geth. Lucy really needed to stop rushing into things without thinking it through.

"Doesn't look like there's too many," Lucy mused, looking down to her mech, "What do you think, Dray? Think we can sneak by?"

Drake let out a low, long whine.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Lucy rolled her eyes, "Come on, let's get going."

Lucy started out slowly, keeping to the upper level of the paths. If she could just stay out of sight...And not come across a Geth coming to the upper level like one just did.

"Shit! Run, Drake!"

The gunfire was already starting as Lucy pushed to a full sprint, Drake at her heels. She tried to keep herself low, make herself as small of a target as possible and move at angles, ducking behind turned over debris whenever she could. She had to lose the Geth. If she could just get out of sight long enough, she'd be fine. Hopefully.

There, a small hole. Lucy rushed for it, throwing herself down into the hiding place and covering her head just as a Geth went by, completely unaware that its target was right under its feet. Lucy gave a sigh of relief, patting Drake on the head as she tried to catch her breath.

What was she thinking coming out here Lucy was no soldier. She was just an engineer with a mech and a gun she rarely used. How was she supposed to deal with an army of _Geth_ of all things? And now she was stuck, trapped in the middle of the skyway with no way to go.

Lucy looked down to her Omni-tool on her wrist and thought about trying to contact Zhu's Hope, or Juliana. She needed some way to distract the Geth so she could get by. She had seen the garage doors to the colony docks, so she was close. She'd never make it, however, just jumping out and running. She needed something else for the Geth to focus on.

Slowly, an idea started to form in Lucy's mind. An insane idea, but it could work. Grinning, Lucy looked to Drake in front of her.

"Time for another distraction," she whispered.

Drake gave a series of short clicks, his light going red.

"I didn't mean _you_!" Lucy said sharply, pulling her Omni-tool off her wrist and began to work quickly, relying on Drake to warn her if a Geth got too close to her hole. It seemed she was well-hidden, however. None noticed her hiding right under their feet. Still, Lucy worked quickly. The last thing she wanted was to be shot to pieces by a Geth, trapped in a hole like a fish in a barrel.

"Here we go," Lucy muttered as she finished her work, leaning up enough to glance out at the Geth above. She glanced to her Omni-tool, vibrating hard and blinking in warning of an overload coming, "Sorry buddy. You were a good one over the years."

Lucy took a deep breath, then threw her beeping Omni-tool as hard as she could from her hole, in the opposite direction of the Zhu's Hope colony. She should have stayed hidden, but she couldn't help herself. If she was going to sacrifice a perfectly good Omni-tool as a distraction, she damn well was going to watch it explode. Lucy stayed just up enough to watch as the little device landed a few feet from one Geth. A second later, there was a loud pop and sparks and flames exploded from where the Omni-tool once was. Lucy gave a small giggle, finding herself a bit too giddy that her plan worked and Geth began moving towards the small fire.

"Come on, Drake," Lucy said, getting her mech out first, then climbing out of the hole herself. She glanced at the Geth, completely oblivious to her, and hurried off towards the safety of a building nearby. Or at least a place that would be safer from an open skyway. The second she reached the door, Lucy and Drake slipped in quickly and she slammed closed the entrance behind her.

Lucy gave a sigh of relief too soon. Shots rang out and she yelped, spinning around with her pistol and expecting to see more Geth. Instead, she saw two men up on top of a ramp nearby, though neither were aiming at her. They both were shooting at Drake, who ran off and hid under a nearby rover.

"Hey, hey, stop!" Lucy called, scrambling up the ramp towards the men, "That's my defense mech! He's not a Geth!"

Both men looked started and stared at Lucy. She noticed both were holding old assault rifles, though she doubted either fully knew how to use it.

"Don't you think to look before you start shooting?" Lucy snapped, "Couldn't you see he was with me? Or think that you could have ended up killing me?"

"Sorry, miss," one colonist said sheepishly.

"We thought it might be attacking you," the other added.

"Well, he's not," Lucy said sharply, turning towards the rover down at the bottom of the ramp and raising her voice, "It's okay, Drake! Coast is clear!"

There was no answer, and Lucy no longer had her Omni-tool to check on Drake's stats. Lucy sighed, heading down the ramp to the rover and getting down to her hands and knees. It was dark under the rover, but she could make out Drake's shape and pale purple light.

"Come on, they learned their lesson," Lucy said, "Get out here."

Lucy's only response from the mech was a series of short-burst buzzes.

"Oh, come on you suborn thing!" Lucy said, "We don't have time for this right now! Get out here!"

"Er, excuse me, miss?"

Lucy jerked up in surprise so quickly that she hit her head on the underside of the rover. Cursing loudly, Lucy ducked out from under the vehicle and stood up. She rubbed the back of her head and turned, expecting to see one of the colonists. What she got, however, were three very well-armed and well-armored individuals. Two were human—though Lucy couldn't tell any details, even gender, about them since they were wearing helmets—and, surprisingly, a krogan.

"Who're you?" Lucy snapped, still feeling hostile after dealing with the colonists and annoyed at the throbbing growing in her head, not to mention dealing with her stubborn mech.

"I'm Commander Shepard," the taller of the two humans said—it sounded as if he were male, "What were you doing under that rover?"

Lucy sighed. She always had to explain Drake carefully, as to not give away he was actually an A.I.

"I have a mech who's glitching," she said, "He ended up under the rover when—"

She didn't get to finish. Drake decided to choose that moment to finally come out from under the rover, coming to a stop at Lucy's feet. Lucy resisted the urge to kick the thing.

"Never mind," she said, "Are you three a rescue team? I thought there would be more of you."

"We were here because of the Geth," Shepard said, "But when we realized colonists were still alive here, we had to help."

"There's more than just the colonists," Lucy jumped at the chance, "I saw your ship landing and I came to let you know there are ExoGeni employees hiding along the skyway."

The second soldier glanced to the rover blocked off by piles of crates, then to Lucy with her torn uniform and lastly towards the door leading to the skyway.

"You made it through Geth on foot?" it was clear in the voice that this soldier was female, "Alone?"

"Impressive," the krogan added.

"I wasn't alone," Lucy insisted, feeling oddly honored by the krogan's one-word praise, "I have Drake, my mech."

Even with the helmets, Lucy could easily see the bewildered looks the two humans gave each other. Lucy sighed.

"You're after the Geth, right?" she asked, "They're hold up at the ExoGeni headquarters. I can take you out there."

"We don't need civilians getting in our way," the female soldier's voice was sharp. Lucy didn't like it.

"I can handle myself," she shot back, "And I know my way around the area. You'll need help."

"I say we take her," the krogan said, "Anyone crazy enough to take on all those Geth on foot is just what we need."

Lucy felt her face flush and decided not to mention her role in that had mainly been running and hiding. And blowing up an Omni-tool.

"I won't turn down help," Shepard gave a nod. Lucy grinned at him gratefully. She didn't like just sitting around.

"Good," she said, "Let's clear out this path and head out."

The next half hour passed surprisingly smoothly. Lucy was driving the rover and luckily her makeshift bomb seemed to have taken care of the Geth. Or else, they had left. Drake stayed close to Lucy's side, as usual, and Shepard was in the back with his squad mates—whom Lucy learned were named Ashley Williams and Urdnot Wrex.

"You work at ExoGeni, right, Lucy?" Williams asked, and Lucy wondered why it was taking them this long to ask, "Do you have any idea what these Geth are after?"

"I'm just a freelance mechanic," Lucy replied, "I was hired on to fix things. As far as I knew, Feros was a wasteland. They haven't found anyth—Oh shit!"

Lucy swerved as a massive Geth—roughly the same size as their rover and standing on four legs—dropped onto the skyway right in front of them.

"What the hell is that thing?" Williams cried out in confusion and disbelief.

"They're the nasty ones," Lucy said as the rover stopped with a hard jerk. She started messing with the controls quickly, trying to get going again. "One of those things destroyed a shuttle, shot it right out of the air when we were first evacuating."

"Can you outrun it?" Williams asked.

"Yeah, they're big but slow," Lucy got the controls back up quickly and pushed to get the rover moving forward again, "And they have a long range, we'll have to be careful if it—"

The rover suddenly rocked and sparks went flying from the electronics. Lucy let out a yell as it burned her fingers. It was clear even without checking that everything was fried.

"Stupid piece of crap rover," Lucy hissed, smacking the controls hard. She was rewarded for this action by another shock. This was just not Lucy's day, apparently.

"Everything's fried," she said, looking back to the soldiers, "We're sitting ducks here until I can get it fixed."

"Get started, we'll fight the thing off," Wrex said. Without another word, he snatched up a shotgun, popped open the hatch, and was out of the rover, chuckling to himself as if he'd been waiting for an excuse to get out of the rover. Lucy stared after him, then turned to Shepard.

"Your krogan is insane."

"Yeah, I've been getting that feeling," he responded, "Just get the rover running. We'll deal with the Geth."

Lucy watched as Shepard and Williams headed out of the rover. Drake moved to the door and stood ready, watching out but not leaving Lucy's side. He was always there to guard her, and Lucy appreciated that. Even if he was a huge pain in the ass. Lucy turned back to the controls and sighed. It was time to get to work. She had known ExoGeni's habit of using piece of crap vehicles would come back to bite them, but did it have to happen when a giant Geth was attacking?

Lucy had never had to do repairs under pressure. She'd always been able to work on her own time, at her own pace. She'd never had to work with the sound of gunfire and a krogan yelling constantly coming from outside the rover. It was incredibly distracting. Every noise caused her to look up from the controls as if she could see through the wall of the rover to tell what was happening. She only had a small view from the open door, but it didn't tell her much. The Geth and Shepard's team were out of sight currently.

' _They're fine out there,'_ Lucy had to tell herself, focusing instead on her work. They were trained fighters. They were better at handling this than she was. At least she was safely in the rover—

Lucy cursed as sparks flew from the panel. Okay. So being in the rover wasn't exactly _safe_. Still, she'd take fried controls that tried to kill her with electricity over a giant Geth that would definitely kill her by stepping on her.

The rover was completely wrecked. Lucy had no idea how the thing didn't just explode when the Geth had hit it. That would have been just Lucy's luck. It took a lot of work, and a lot of amateur hacking and crossed wires, and Lucy got basics up and running. She pulled back from the panel and went to the controls, booting things up to check the system. It took a few minutes, but Lucy could finally check on the rover. Drive controls, video feed to see where she was going, and that was basically it. No weapons. No life support. At least they were on a planet with a breathable atmosphere. It was crude, but it would get them to ExoGeni in one piece. Hopefully.

Lucy had just grinned and was about to give herself a mental pat on the back when there was a loud boom and the entire rover shook hard enough to knock Lucy backwards, causing her to hit her head on a panel.

"Dammit!" Lucy hissed, rubbing the back of her head. She really needed to start wearing a helmet. She paused, trying to let the stars fade from view and her head to clear again. It took longer than she would like for her to realize that she was alive, so the explosion obviously hadn't been the rover. Slowly, she moved towards the door where Drake still was and looked out. Pieces of Geth were scattered all over the skyway, most of them on fire. Lucy couldn't see the thing's head anywhere.

"What the hell happened out here?" she asked in shock. What did these guys _do_?

"Thing self-destructed," Wrex said in a tone that seemed cheerful, though a krogan being cheerful was downright terrifying.

"Did you get the rover fixed?" Shepard asked, kicking away a piece of burning Geth leg.

"Barely," Lucy said, "It'll get us to ExoGeni and hopefully back, but weapons are completely fried and the air's not working. It's going to get hot."

"Then let's be careful and fast," Shepard said, "Come on."

Luckily, they didn't have another encounter with a giant Geth on their path. There were quite a few of the regular ones, though, and Lucy decided to deal with it in the most logical way possible: Run them over. Wrex seemed to approve of this plan greatly, considering he started laughing the first time Lucy did this. Lucy made a mental note that a krogan laugh was almost as disturbing as one sounding childishly cheerful.

Relief went through Lucy once they finally made it to ExoGeni, mainly just for being alive. She'd been worried the whole drive that the rover would spontaneously combust on them or something. She got out and took a deep breath, glad for fresh air as the three fighters got out after her and Drake followed last. They'd made it to ExoGeni. However there was a small problem. Or more-so, a very large problem.

"How the hell are we going to get past that?" Williams asked, staring at a blue flickering barrier covering the entire entrance to the ruins ExoGeni had turned into their headquarters.

"Is there another way in, Lucy?" Shepard asked, turning towards Lucy.

"Yeah, I know a way," Lucy replied, "I'd use it to sneak out sometimes. Warn you, though. It's a bit of a climb."

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope you're enjoying my AU so far. If you are, then Chellendora has her own story, _The Barracuda: Allegiances_. It's already a very entertaining read and well worth the time.


	3. Chapter Two

_**Chapter Two: ExoGeni**_

Getting into ExoGeni hadn't been hard at all. The problem was going to be figuring out how to take down the barrier, which was probably also the source of the communications being blocked. Worse still, was the smell that hit them as soon as they were in the building. It didn't take long at all to realize what the smell was.

Bodies. Dozens of them. The Geth obviously didn't see any need in removing them when they invaded ExoGeni. People still lay where they were shot-down in their attempts to escape. Lucy felt herself starting to tremble, barely able to breathe through the smell. She knew these people. Not by name, but she knew their faces, even as marred by decay as they were. These people were those she passed in corridors on the way to repairs, or saw around the mess hall during meals...

"Oh God," Williams managed weakly, her hand over her mouth, "I thought Eden Prime was bad."

Lucy glanced to Williams. She'd never been to Eden Prime, but everyone knew about it and its importance to humans. She just opened her mouth to ask what had happened, but it became immediately apparent that was the worst thing to do. It all hit at once. A horrible churning in her stomach, a tight bubbling in her throat, and her entire body trembling worse than before. Lucy stumbled away, but didn't get far. Stumbling to her hands and knees, Lucy began to vomit, tears stinging the edge of her eyes.

Lucy felt a hand on her shoulder and she glanced up shakily. Williams had knelt next to her and, through the visor covering the upper half of her face, Lucy could see concern in her eyes. It was oddly comforting.

"You okay?" Williams asked.

"I...I worked with these people," Lucy muttered, the bitter, acidic taste still lingering in her mouth, making the smells around them even worse. She felt like throwing up again.

"Do you want to wait outside?" Shepard asked, "We can find our way around."

Lucy should have said yes, gone bac to the rover and waited, but two weeks of hiding had her feeling helpless. She didn't like the idea of sitting around while others did the work. She wanted to help.

"N-no," Lucy said weakly, getting to her feet. She was still trembling. "I can do this. I-I want to help."

"Then we should get going," Shepard said with a sharp nod.

"Y-yeah," Lucy was still shaking, but she wanted out of this room. Standing there, with the bodies of people she recognized just laying where they fell, was sickening. Lucy's heart was racing, her hands trembling, and her stomach churning. She was more than willing to follow the soldiers further into the building and almost found herself wishing for a Geth to show up. A fight would be a distraction. A way to ignore what was going through her mind. Just two weeks ago, Lucy would walk these same halls, overhearing workers chatting over sports or the latest news. Now, there was nothing but silence and the smell of rotting corpses. Lucy was too afraid to even look into the rooms they passed. She didn't want to see more bodies. She tried to keep her mind on what they were doing, not where they were.

"How do you plan to take down the ship when we find it?" Lucy asked after a moment, "Blow it up?"

Wrex gave a chuckle behind Lucy, causing her to jump a little.

"I like this one, Shepard," he said. Lucy wasn't all that sure having a krogan be fond of her was a good thing.

"We haven't run into any Geth yet," Shepard said, "Something feels wrong."

"You'd think with their ship here, this place would be overrun," Williams added, "Where are they?"

The fact the soldiers were nervous just made things worse on Lucy. If they were worried, how was she going to be able to get through this? She was relying on them, after all. Maybe she _should_ have gone back to the rover...

A familiar mechanical growling came from up ahead, causing Lucy's heart to leap to her throat. She went tense, her hand going to her pistol as she glanced to the others. That was the noise Geth made, and it sounded like more than one. Slowly, the group edged forward towards where a piece of wall had fallen away. From their vantage point, they could see down to the floor below where at least a dozen Geth were gathered. None of them were armed, their weapons lying on a pile of rubble nearby. The strangest thing about it was the fact that all the Geth were gathered together, kneeling in front of some strange structure with a glowing light in the center. Lucy didn't recognize it. It seemed like the Geth must have built it themselves.

"Well, that's something you don't see every day," Wrex said as quietly as any krogan could.

"Are they... _praying_?" Lucy asked in a sort of morbid interest. She'd always heard Geth were a very basic A.I., relying on group thought. Had they really advanced enough to believe in a higher power? That seemed almost...human. It was fascinating and disturbing at the same time. What type of thing would Geth view as gods?

"Hey, if they're looking for God, I'd be happy to send them on their way," Williams whispered, grabbing the sniper rifle attached to the back of her armor and letting it unfold and expand in her hands.

"Stand down, Williams," Shepard said quietly, "We're here to take down their ship. If we avoid drawing notice, we can get in and out quickly."

"What about clearing out the Geth?" Lucy asked, turning to Shepard, "Protecting Zhu's Hope?"

"We'll make sure the Geth are cleared out," Shepard said, "But our priority needs to be taking down that Geth ship and getting communications back up."

Lucy nodded slowly, hoping that Shepard wasn't just saying that to keep her complacent. She hadn't really talked to anyone at Zhu's Hope—aside from Fai Dan—but she still didn't want to leave them to the mercy of the Geth. Too many people had died already.

"Let's get going," Shepard said, "We still have to find where the ship has anchored itself so we can dislodge it."

"Or crash it," Wrex said hopefully. Lucy gave him a wary look. She'd always heard of krogan violence, but she'd always passed them off as over exaggerated rumors. Meeting Wrex proved her wrong.

"If they're anchoring to the building, they could be using the bay doors," Lucy mused, slowly moving away from the praying Geth, "These walls are probably too thick for even the Geth to get through, they'd have to anchor where there's an opening already."

"Do you know where those are?" Williams asked.

"Yeah, I've been called to repair the doors constantly," Lucy answered, "It's this way."

Lucy was glad to have something to focus on. It helped keep her mind off the dead bodies, the fact she recognized so many of them. She may not know their names, but she passed them in corridors, or came in to fix their equipment often...Like the one man lying in the hallway up ahead. Lucy jerked to a stop so unexpectantly that Shepard ended up walking into her.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Th-that's S-Sam," Lucy managed, her eyes fixed on the body of a familiar black-haired man. Even decayed as he was, Lucy still recognized him. He was someone who was always having computer problems. Lucy had to come to his office to fix them every day. He would always complain about how they should have hired a 'real engineer' because Lucy couldn't even keep the terminals up for a day. She had hated him. And now he was dead.

"Was he a friend of yours?" William asked. Lucy hesitated.

"Not really," her voice was weak, breaking slightly. Was it bad karma to say you hated a guy who had been killed by Geth? Sure, Lucy hated him. A lot. But no one deserved this.

"If we keep standing around," Wrex grunted, "The Geth are going to realize we're here."

"Wrex is right," Shepard said, "The longer the take, the more chance they'll find us."

They moved on, much to Lucy's relief. She couldn't wait to be done with this place. The sooner they took care of the ship, the better. Lucy quickened her pace, relying on Drake for warning if something was coming. They moved silently, the one thing Lucy didn't like. It meant her mind could wander. She'd spent the last two weeks knowing those two hadn't made it to shelter were dead, but seeing it was extremely jarring. Plus, Lucy knew Lizbeth was here, somewhere. She kept imagining her friend's corpse, bloodied and decayed, and it made her sick. She needed a distraction.

"It's just up here," Lucy said once they finally reached one of the larger rooms ExoGeni used as a lab. Drake gave warning clicks, his light going red as he stared at the door.

"What is it, boy?" Lucy asked. Shepard moved closer and edged open the door.

"Geth," he said, "About a dozen of them. No big ones, at least. Everyone get in and take cover quickly."

Shepard, Wrex, and Ashley all filed in, rushing to different piles of rubble to take on the Geth at different angles. Lucy, who wasn't trained in combat, was slower, had no armor, and only a pistol. Drake ran forward towards the Geth, drawing their attention too quickly. Lucy's reward for this act of stupidity was a bullet to her left bicep, just as she ducked behind rubble.

"Shit!" she hissed, tensing up at the pain and holding her right hand down over the wound on her arm, "Shit..."

"You okay, Lucy?" Shepard called over the sound of firing guns. Lucy glanced out enough to see Drake between two Geth, running under their legs to knock them off balance.

"Got shot!" Lucy called back, wincing. She needed to keep still. Glancing down, Lucy could see blood seeping from between her fingers. Just her hand wasn't going to be enough.

"Williams, get her some medi-gel!" Shepard ordered, "I'll cover you!"

"Aye, aye."

Moments later, Williams was at Lucy's side, helping her rip away the sleeve of Lucy's uniform and applying the medi-gel over the wound. Lucy always thought medi-gel felt weird being applied. It seemed to start off soft and pliable only to instantly seal itself against the wound, becoming like an odd, simi-transparent scab.

"Thanks," Lucy said, grabbing her pistol, feeling slightly light-headed, "I'd hate to bleed out on you while you're trying to save my life."

Lucy may have been imagining it, but she thought she heard the gunnery chief laugh before grabbing her assault rifle and turning attention back to the Geth.

This time, Lucy was determined to help in the fight. Sure, she was a bit woozy from the medi-gel, but she wasn't going to just sit back. She was a decent shot, but she rarely had to fight. She was still shaky when the pressure of life-and-death was on the line. Not to mention having to compare with two trained Alliance soldiers and a krogan. Lucy was sure she managed to land a few shots, at least. She had a small victory to be proud of there.

"That's all of them," Wrex said once the last Geth fell and he came out of a pile of rubble that used to be a wall, "Shame. I hadn't even gotten warmed up yet."

"The medi-gel holding?" Shepard asked Lucy as she got up. She glanced down to the gel sealed over her wound and moved her arm a bit. Still hurt like hell, but at least she wasn't going to bleed out.

"I'm fine, thanks," she said.

Now that the Geth were gone, it was easier for them to get a look around. It seemed this was where the Geth had anchored their ship. Large legs from the ship were dug into the building, latched through the large opening where the doors were locked open. Lucy noticed the terminal was still standing nearby and an idea struck her. Quickly, she put away her pistol and made her way over to it.

"Can I borrow an omni-tool?"

"What's wrong with yours?" Shepard turned away from the Geth ship leg, coming towards Lucy at the terminal.

"I...blew mine up," Lucy said nervously, "It's not important. But I need an omni-tool to get into this."

Shepard raised his eyebrow and Lucy could only imagine he was trying to decide if it was safe lending his omni-tool to someone who just admitted to exploding her own.

"You're setting explosives to blow the ship, right?" Lucy asked, "Well, you said the Geth had to be here for something. Maybe there's something in the terminals, if I could hack in."

Shepard hesitated for a moment, but finally pulled his omni-tool off his wrist and held it out.

"Just be careful with it, okay?" he asked. Lucy couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Yeah, I will," she said.

Shepard's omni-tool was surprisingly well-set up. It seemed he might be a tech head himself. Surprising. Lucy always thought of Alliance soldiers either being biotic, or like her sister, Daphne. Pure strength. Lucy realized it was a bit naïve to think that engineers couldn't be soldiers as well.

Lucy was no expert hacker, but she knew enough to get by. Working the places she did, it helped to be able to crack into a system. ExoGeni, for being the company they were and so protective of their secrets, didn't seem to think much about keeping people out of their terminals. In the time it took Shepard's squad to get explosives rigged to the ship, Lucy had managed to get into the high level employee access. She started scrolling through files, trying to find anything that wasn't normal for a starting colony. There were files of artifacts, employee records, lists of supplies coming in...And something called "Species 37."

"What is that?" Lucy muttered, pulling up the file and began to read:

 _Species 37. Thorian. An ancient plant-like sentient creature living in the underground of Feros. Sizable tendrils several kilometers in length make up this creature, amassing to a central nerve bundles. The species is intelligent, but it is unknown if it has reasoning capabilities._

 _The Thorian has a unique quality that requires further study. It can infect and control the mind of living subjects through a breathable spore. Discovered during search for artifacts by the colonists, the company was first worried about illness. The colony of Zhu's Hope was isolated and study began. Within a month, 80% of the colony has become infected by the spores. Behavioral changes developed slowly within the colonists as the thorian seems to be conditioning its thralls._

 _ExoGeni has deemed Zhu's Hope off limits to employees, due to colonists infection and the nerve bundle located underneath. Work has begun on gas grenades to safely incapacitate colonists in case the thorian turns its thralls violent._

Lucy couldn't believe what she had just read. There was a giant mind-controlling plant here and ExoGeni knew? And their response was to let it control innocent people to study it?

"We're about ready to set the timer," Shepard said, jerking Lucy from her thoughts and she turned around.

"Wait, before you do," she said, "I...I think I found what the Geth are after."

Lucy quickly summed up what was in the ExoGeni files, her voice still shaking as she did so. Williams and Shepard both looked disgusted at the news, but it was hard to read Wrex. In the short time she'd known him, Lucy hadn't really seen his facial expression change much.

"This explains why the colonists were acting so strangely," Wrex said, "They're being controlled."

"What about these gas grenades mentioned?" Williams asked, "If we end up having to fight the colonists, I'd rather knock them out rather than kill them."

"Good idea," Shepard added, "Let's find those grenades, then set the timer and get out of here before the building blows."

It didn't take long at all to find the grenades. They were in a marked box, put away in a locker along one wall. Once they had what they needed, Shepard set the timer on the explosives and then ordered everyone to run. Even Lucy was quick to respond this time. It was a mad dash back to the exit, Lucy so focused on the escape she didn't even have a second to think about the bodies scattered around or the fact her arm was screaming in pain. They made it back to the hole they came in from, and scrambled back down the path down to the rover. Everyone hurried into the vehicle and Lucy booted up the systems, punching the controls and with a slight jerk, the rover started off back down the skyway. Lucy kept it at full speed, her eyes flickering back and forth from the forward and rear camera views...

And explosion ripped through the air, shaking the rover. Lucy pulled it to a stop, her eyes fixed on the rear view. The side of the ExoGeni building exploded, sending it and the Geth ship falling. Lucy was transfixed by the vid feed of what was behind them, watching as flaming rubble rolled down the side of what remained of the building, bouncing off the Geth ship as it all disappeared into smoke.

"Damn, that was amazing," Lucy said a bit breathlessly.

"I'll say it again, I like this one," Wrex was laughing in the back of the rover.

* * *

 **A/N:** Just a note, Lizbeth has not been forgotten. What happened with her will come up in the next chapter.


	4. Chapter Three

_**Chapter Three: Feros' Secret**_

The ride back to Zhu's Hope was surprisingly quiet. Lucy had expected some kind of reaction from the Geth, but the skyway was empty. Maybe the Geth were more focused on the destruction of their ship. Lucy was relieved, to be honest. In ExoGeni, a fight was a distraction. Out on the skyway, in the rover with weapons that didn't work, a Geth battle was not welcome.

The garage was empty when the squad arrived back. Lucy found that odd. What happened to the men who were there earlier? Shouldn't they have still been guarding the elevator?

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Wrex said as they got onto the elevator and started up.

' _Great,'_ Lucy thought bitterly, _'The krogan is worried. We're screwed.'_

"Everyone, stay sharp," Shepard said, staying tense and ready, "Keep the gas grenades handy. I don't want to harm any of the colonists if we can help it."

Lucy was relieved to hear Shepard say that. She didn't want to be forced to kill anyone who wasn't acting of their own free will. Lucy glanced down to her tool belt where she had the grenades Shepard had given her. She just hoped she didn't accidentally get herself caught in the smoke. That would be just her luck.

The elevator stopped and Lucy tensed, hand on her belt. Slowly the doors opened...And nothing was there, just an empty hallway. Lucy somehow found that far more unnerving than the thought of facing mind-controlled colonists. The fact they weren't running into any trouble just meant something big had to be waiting for them up ahead. The worse was Lucy had no idea what to expect, what was waiting around each corner. Lucy gripped her pistol tightly, her heart hammering in her chest. All she could do was hope that whatever they encountered wouldn't be as bad as what they saw at ExoGeni.

Lucy had only been on the colony of Zhu's Hope once, when she first arrived on Feros and was only passing through on her way to the ExoGeni building. It was a place of scattered pop-up shelters and massive shipping crates converted into homes, all located near a poorly-kept port. And right now, it seemed abandoned. Lucy stayed tense, eyes turning to every noise.

"Any idea where this thorian could be?" Williams asked.

"The files said it was near the colony," Lucy replied, "But I've only been through here once. I don't know where to even look."

"That one ship worker was determined to keep us away from that cargo container in the center of the colony," Shepard said, "I'd say that's a good place to start."

"And it'll probably be heavily guarded," Williams said, "Let's hope the grenades work."

"They'd better," Shepard replied, "The last thing we need is for this to become a massacre."

There was an odd edge to the way that Shepard said that, though Lucy agreed with him. She didn't want the colonists to end up dead.

Lucy gripped her pistol tight, her heart hammering in her chest. She didn't really know what to expect heading in. Whatever it was, it couldn't be worse than ExoGeni, could it?

Something moved from the corner of her eye and Lucy spun around, then nearly dropped her gun in surprise. Lizbeth was staring back at her from behind a nearby crate. Lucy's mind raced. How'd she get here? Something was wrong, and not just the fact she was there but the way Lizbeth was moving. Stiff and jarred, as if being moved by strings.

"Lizbeth?" Lucy took a step forward, then stumbled backwards again, her eyes wide. Lizbeth had screamed, then charged towards Lucy.

Lucy felt someone grab her arm and yank her out of Lizbeth's path. The woman turned back towards them again and Lucy saw her friend's face was blank, her eyes unfocused. What happened to her?

Lizbeth's scream had attracted attention. More people were coming out towards them, each one having the same blank expression, same unfocused eyes as Lizbeth.

"What has that thorian done to them?" Lucy asked weakly.

"Lucy, get back!" Shepard called, tossing a grenade at the advancing horde. Lucy obeyed instantly, stumbling backwards to avoid the short range of the gas that enveloped the colonists. Once the gas cleared, the thorian-controlled horde were now grouped unconscious on the ground. Lucy stared at them, then focused in on Lizbeth slumped over a woman with dark, cropped hair.

"At least we know the grenades work," Williams said, then turned to Lucy, "You okay?"

"That's Lizbeth," Lucy nodded towards the woman, "She's my friend."

"Hopefully once we take care of this thorian, the colonists will be fine," Shepard said, "Let's find that crate and see if we can lift it."

Lucy took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She made sure Drake was still at her side before following the others slowly through the colony, taking close looks around to avoid an ambush by controlled colonists. Lucy needed to steady herself. She needed to be able to help fight, not hide while others did the work. She felt so useless. She wasn't feeling light-headed anymore at least. It seemed the medi-gel was stopping the bleeding. Ahead of her, Shepard, Wrex, and Williams all had their weapons raised, moving cautiously. Lucy raised her own pistol, wishing she still had her omni-tool.

After the first attack, Lucy expected more controlled colonists to be around, yet the colony was still and empty. It was an eerie feeling. She knew this wasn't good. It just meant that there would be more people to get through at the shipping crates hiding the path to the thorian.

"The cargo container should right up ahead," Shepard said softly ahead of them, "Be on guard."

Lucy nodded, bracing herself as they rounded a corner—then swore loudly. They had been right. The colonists they hadn't encountered were now guarding a massive shipping container. The bigger problem was that these ones were armed and had opened fire. Lucy was a lot quicker to hide this time, ducking behind a nearby crate with Drake at her side. Shepard hid nearby while Wrex took up a position against a wall while Williams was behind another crate.

"Remember what Shepard said," Lucy whispered to her mech, "No attacking to kill."

"Plans, Commander?" Williams called, staying low to avoid the fire from the colonists.

"We know the grenades work," Shepard called back, "So let's put them to use."

"Aye, aye!"

The only flaw in this plan was that it was incredibly difficult to aim a grenade when you were under fire. They couldn't shoot back, not even in warning to get the colonists to scatter. The thorian didn't care about its thralls, they were just tools to it. It didn't care about their safety. Lucy glanced from her spot as Wrex lobbed a gas grenade towards one group of colonists. She noticed a terminal set up next to the cargo container the colonists were so determined to guard. It was connected to a large crane, the end of which was hovering over the container. Maybe she could get to it and lift the container with that...But even she wasn't stupid enough to go running into the middle of a firefight. She'd wave to wait until the colonists were all knocked out.

Lucy looked down to the grenades she had. She'd never used one before, but it couldn't be too hard, right? Just program it and throw. Lucy got a grenade ready, then noticed a group of colonists trying to move in from the right. The grenade landed at their feet and smoke began billowing from the small sphere. Lucy felt a wave of relief when it cleared and she saw the colonists were unconscious. Maybe they could do this.

Up against two trained Alliance marines, a krogan, and a desperate engineer with an A.I. FENRIS mech, a group of mind-controlled colonists with no training in weapons didn't stand a chance. The gas grenades worked perfectly and soon all the colonists were lying scattered and unconscious, but alive.

"That's all of them," Williams said, "Ready to move, Commander."

"Lucy, think you can get that crane working?" Shepard asked, turning towards the engineer.

"Yeah, it'll take a minute without an omni-tool, though," Lucy replied, "What about the colonists?"

"We'll take care of them."

Lucy nodded, watching for a moment as the others were beginning to move the unconscious colonists to safer spots. Lucy was grateful for that. Seeing the colonists lying where they fell was too much like the bodies at ExoGeni.

When Lucy turned back to the terminal, she started for it at a quick pace. Right when she reached it and powered it on, Drake gave a low, whirring growl behind her. Lucy turned around, her eyes widening when she noticed Fai Dan standing nearby, gun in hand.

He looked different than the others, though. His face wasn't blank; instead it was screwed up in an expression of pain. His eyes weren't unfocused, but more the gaze of someone squinting to try and see something better.

"Fai Dan?" Lucy asked, her heart racing as she tried to feel for her belt at her hip that held grenades. She froze when she couldn't find it and glanced down for just a second. Her belt was empty. She didn't have any grenades left.

"It...It wants me...to...stop you."

Lucy looked back to Fai Dan. His speech was rough and broken, as if he were having trouble getting the words out. His entire body was trembling, the hand holding the gun starting to rise. His movements were far jerkier than that of the other colonists, the gun moving more slowly and sometimes moving downward instead of up to aim.

"I...I won't let...let it..."

"Fai Dan, just hold on," Lucy said weakly, her voice shaking. She kept her gaze locked on the gun but she spoke to Drake in a whisper, "Can you knock him out with a shock?"

Drake gave a click and started forward, but Fai Dan was raising the gun again. This time to his own head.

"I won't...let it...control...me!"

"No, don't!"

Lucy started forward, but it was too late. A shot rang through the colony and Lucy stumbled, staring in shock as Fai Dan fell to the ground, his blood soaking the dusty floor of abandoned ruins-turned-colony. She was starting to feel sick again. She knew Fai Dan, she'd talked to him a few times over the past weeks...And now he was gone. Gone thanks to the thorian.

Williams came into view nearby, her gun raised.

"I heard a gunshot," she said, "What ha—"

She cut off, seeing Fai Dan. Her eyes widened beneath her visor, then she turned to Lucy.

"What happened to no harming the colonists?" she snapped. Lucy stared at her, trembling slightly. Still, William's tone snapped Lucy from her shock and she glared at the soldier.

"I didn't kill him," she said, "He...He shot himself."

Lucy felt sick just saying that and she made sure not to look at Fai Dan. Ashley muttered something under her breath, but all Lucy could catch was something about 'waste of life'.

"I need to get the crate moved," she said, turning away from Williams and back to the terminal. She was still trembling, but she needed to focus. They were here to stop the thorian. She wanted to help save these colonists.

By the time Shepard and Wrex returned, Lucy had the crane moving. Slowly, she sent it down to the cargo container and started it lifting off the ground. Lucy glanced over and saw a blown-open hole, a pathway lined with lights disappearing down to below.

"Good work, Lucy," Shepard said, "We appreciate all your help, we can handle it from here."

"I want to come," Lucy said quickly. She didn't want to be left alone with the colonists. They had no idea how long the gas grenades would last, after all. Plus, she didn't want to be left with Fai Dan lying there...

"I...Whatever this thing is that caused all this," Lucy went on, "The thorian...I want to see it destroyed."

Shepard looked like he was going to argue, but Williams spoke up before he could.

"Look, she's held her own so far," she said, "I think she deserves this much."

"Besides, she could be helpful," Wrex added, "We can always use another gun."

"Fine, let's get going," Shepard said, starting off down the tunnel. Lucy gave Williams a thankful look before she followed with the others.

The tunnel under the colony was very dim, despite the lights along the ground. It was clear their energy source was going out. Several of the lights were flickering and there were a couple that were blown. Lucy didn't know if it was just weariness after everything else, but she didn't feel nearly as nervous as before. She was still terrified of what they'd find, however. Maybe more bodies?

In a sense, that was exactly what they found. Something moved in the shadows and soon, several creatures were coming towards them. They looked human in shape, but that was where the similarity ended. Each one seemed to be made of something that looked like molding plants, and had the smell of decay to them. Lucy covered her mouth against it.

"What the hell are those?" Shepard asked, raising his weapon.

The creatures charged at them. Lucy yelped and open fire with the others, trying to drive the creatures back. This only led them to another surprise in their enemy:

They explode.

"Shit!" Lucy hissed as she ducked back behind the wall she was using as cover. The smell was worse now, but Lucy forced herself not to focus on it. She needed to stop thinking and instead just focus on surviving.

"How many of these things are there?" Wrex asked nearby as another wave of the creepers came around the corner.

"Just keep it up," Shepard ordered, "We're most likely going to encounter a lot of them to get to this thorian."

Lucy frowned. She didn't like the idea of having to fight through an army of those exploding...things. She wasn't armored like the others and she had no idea what that gunk would do to her, or to Drake's circuits. She had to focus, though. She had to get through this and see what was controlling the colonists—and see it destroyed. Then, she'd get off Feros, ExoGeni contract be damned. Maybe she could talk Shepard into giving her a lift to the Citadel...

It took longer to fight through the army of exploding plant-people than it had to get through the colonists, mainly because half the time they had to clean the gunk from the things exploding off of them. Eventually, they made it past the horde and into what seemed like another of Feros' crumbling skyscrapers. Probably the one that was close to the Zhu's Hope colony. Long, winding stairways wrapped around the edges of a central, open space that seemed to span the full building. And hanging there in that space, supported by long, winding root-like tendrils, was a massive creature unlike anything Lucy had ever seen.

"Th-that's a... _plant_?" Shepard asked in disbelief. Lucy didn't like the way his voice wavered. Wasn't he supposed to be the one in charge?

Though Lucy couldn't blame him. She had never seen anything like what was in front of them. There was no telling where the front of it was, or that if there even _was_ one. She knew it was sentient enough to control others, but Lucy didn't want to talk with it. She wanted it dead.

"How do we take that thing down?" Williams asked, "Explosives?"

"Works for me," Wrex said.

"How are you going to get them set up?" Lucy asked, looking around.

"We can anchor them to the tendrils," Shepard pointed off to the side, "And then blow them as we leave."

Their planning was cut short. Someone was moving towards them. An asari.

She looked...strange. She was purple, but not fully. The curves of her scalp were turning green, the color fading into the purple of her face and along her neck, disappearing under her armor. She was moving in the same twitchy was of the colonists, her eyes having the same unfocused gaze.

"I speak for the Old Growth," her voice sounded more like a simple V.I.'s, dull and monotone.

"Nothing's ever simple, is it?" Shepard muttered. He glanced to Williams and Wrex, who nodded and moved off, before he turned back to the asari and raised his assault rifle, "Who're you?"

"I speak for the Old Growth."

"Yeah, I got that," Shepard said, "Who's the Old Growth? The thorian?"

"Thorian. A name given by you flesh creatures," the asari said, "The Old Growth cares not for your titles. You are good only for work, to be discarded when the task is done."

"We're not tools!" Lucy snapped. Shepard shot her a look that caused Lucy to sink back some. It was as if he were silently telling her to let him handle it, and she gave a small nod.

"Why are you controlling the colonists?" Shepard demanded.

"They belong to the Old Growth."

"They're living people!" Lucy couldn't help herself, "They're not yours!"

Drake gave a soft whirr and Lucy glanced down to him. He wasn't looking at the asari or thorian. Instead, he was staring off to where Wrex and Williams had gone. Lucy looked over herself and saw that they were attaching explosives to a nearby tendril. They were working to get everything set up while Shepard distracted the thorian. Lucy started to move to help, but the next thing the asari said pulled her attention back to it.

"They were flesh freely given," the asari explained, 'Given by the one who came before. The one who leads the machines."

"Saren was here?" Shepard's voice gave away his surprise. Lucy stared at him. Who was Saren? Why did the thorian call him 'leader of the machines'? Was he behind the Geth attacking Feros? The name sounded turian. Why would a turian be leading Geth?

"The leader of the machines, the one you call Saren, came looking for information on a species long-dead," the asari said, "The Old Growth gave Saren the information he sought in exchange for the flesh above. A deal done fairly, until Saren chose to betray the Old Growth. He sent his machines to attack the colonists he had given."

"Saren came here for information on the protheans, didn't he?" Shepard stepped forward, an urgent tone in his voice.

Lucy had no idea what was going on before. First, Geth attacked Feros. Now, she learned that a turian named Saren was behind it. And now she was expected to believe this all had something to do with the protheans? After having so many different things come at her like this, the novelty of being shocked had worn off. Instead, Lucy looked around and saw Williams and Wrex returning. Williams was holding a trigger devise for the explosives. Shepard glanced at the two as well before turning back to the asari.

"What did you give Saren?" he demanded, "I need it to know what he's up to. I need to stop him."

"The Old Growth sees the air you push as lies," the asari said, her body starting to get a shimmering blue tinge to it—a sure sign she was prepping a biotic attack, "There will be no more deals made."

"Worth a try," Shepard muttered, turning to Williams, "Now, Ash."

"Aye, aye." Williams got a grin on her face as she pressed the button in her hand.

The ground below them shook as the explosives went off all around. The asari screamed and an odd, horrifying noise came from the thorian as it began to fall from where it was suspended, pieces of the building falling down over it. The asari's biotic glow disappeared as she collapsed to the ground and the thorian vanished into darkness below. Just like that, it was over. The thorian was gone. They were safe.

Well, not completely safe. They still had a collapsing skyscraper to escape.

"Everyone, move," Shepard said, grabbing the unconscious asari and slinging her over his shoulder in a fireman-carry. Lucy didn't need telling twice. She took off for the path that led to Zhu's Hope, her mech and the people who had saved the colony following behind.


	5. Chapter Four

_**Chapter Four:**_

 _ **Leaving Feros**_

Lucy stared around her. She had just returned from her living space, having packed up her belongings—including her spare omni-tool—so she'd be ready to go as soon as Shepard's squad left. Lucy couldn't help but notice that Zhu's Hope felt like a normal colony now. People were heading from place to place, working to repair the damage from the Geth attacks. Some were resting in the make-shift clinic. People from ExoGeni had made their way from the now-safe skyway. Lucy noticed Jeong was in some type of argument with Shepard while Williams was handing out food rations to the colonists. Juliana was nearby, making a fuss over her daughter. Lucy decided to go talk to them first.

"How're you doing, Lizbeth?" Lucy asked when she reached the pair.

"Shaken, but I'm alive," Lizbeth gave Lucy a weak sort of grin, "That thorian...Being under its control was a nightmare."

"How did you end up here at the colony?" Lucy asked.

"When the Geth started attacking, I thought I could come warn them," Lizbeth sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes, "I took a rover, but after I got here..."

Lizbeth trailed off, shaking her head a little. Lucy let the subject drop. She couldn't imagine what it had to be like for Lizbeth, trapped inside her own body...

Lucy's mind went to Fai Dan. He fought the control to the end, to the point he'd rather take his own life than attack them...Lucy shook her head, trying to rid the thought from her mind. She'd seen a lot of horrible things the past few weeks, but that was one image that would stick with her forever.

"I'm leaving," Lucy finally said, adjusting her duffle hanging over her shoulder, "I've talked with Commander Shepard. He's agreed to take me to the Citadel."

"You're not going to stay?" Lizbeth asked, "To help with the recovery?"

"After all that's happened, I need to get away from here," Lucy said, giving her friend a grin, "I'll keep in touch, though. I want to know this colony survives."

Juliana nodded, though she didn't look that happy about Lucy leaving. Lizbeth gave a sigh, running a hand through her short hair.

"Take care of yourself out there, Lucy," Juliana said. Lucy gave the mother-daughter pair a grin, hugging both of them before heading off. Shepard was done talking with Jeong, but was now talking with the half-green-half-purple asari that had been under the thorian's control earlier.

"He's getting information about Saren and the protheans."

Lucy looked over her shoulder to see Williams was done handing out rations and had come over to her. She'd removed her helmet now, and Lucy could see easier her Hispanic features, and her long, black hair that she had pulled back into a tight knot.

"Who _is_ Saren?" Lucy asked. He had been mentioned earlier, too, when they were talking to the thorian. "What do the protheans have to do with anything?"

"Saren's a Spectre," Williams explained, "Shepard has been tasked with taking him down."

"Wouldn't that be a task for another Spectre?"

"Commander Shepard _is_ one," Williams got a proud sort of grin on her face as she stared towards her commanding officer nearby. "The first human accepted into their ranks."

There was more than just admiration in the tone. Lucy wondered if Williams' feelings towards Shepard were more than just a soldier's respect. That was something she bet the crew of Shepard's ship gossiped about a lot.

"I was stationed on Eden Prime," Williams went on, turning back to Lucy, "We were attacked by the Geth, led by Saren. He was after a prothean beacon that was unearthed there. There wasn't much information that Shepard could understand, however. That asari has answers."

Lucy just stared at Williams in disbelief. All of that had happened? And Saren attacked Feros to get to information of the protheans to help figure out an ancient message?

"Williams, time to move out," Shepard called from nearby, "Do you still want that ride, Lucy?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," Lucy called back. She gave the colony around her one last look, taking it all in. The place was a mess, but it was recovering. And Lucy was going to make sure she kept in contact. She wanted to make sure they didn't fail after everything they've been through. She just couldn't be here herself.

Lucy hurried on to catch up with Shepard and his squad, following them along to the docks. This was also the first time that Lucy could get a good look at the ship that had come to Feros' rescue. Lucy had been right before—the ship looked vaguely turian, but it was smaller in size. The hull was white and black, with "NORMANDY" in large letters near its nose. It was definitely an impressive ship.

Lucy followed the others into the airlock of the ship and Shepard pulled off his helmet as decontamination procedures began. Lucy was surprised to see his hair was red, and his eyes a bright blue. That combination was incredibly rare in this day and age.

"I want you to report to Dr. Chakwas as soon as we're on board," he said, "Second level, port."

Lucy nodded. She was eager to get the medi-gel removed from her arm. It was starting to pinch. She also wanted to get herself a long shower. After two weeks trapped, she was filthy. And she knew she had to stink.

It didn't take long for decontamination to finish and Shepard made his way towards the bridge as Williams and Wrex went off in the opposite direction. Lucy took the chance to look around. She'd never actually been in an Alliance ship before, despite the fact her sister served. Alliance personal were moving around, expertly skirting around each other when needed. Others were sitting at various terminals, watching the screens and keeping diagnostics going. And in the center of one room, a massive, sprawling galaxy map. Lucy stared at it, moving slowly as she took the whole thing in. It was obviously done on holographic protectors, and Lucy found herself wanting to get a really good look at its programming...

"Can I help you, miss?"

Lucy turned to see a tall, balding man in full uniform was watching her, a tablet gripped in his hands.

"Sorry," Lucy said, "I...I'm just getting a ride to the Citadel. I need to get to the med bay?"

"Just down those stairs," the man said, pointing towards a staircase on the port side of the ship, "And go straight. It's the door right across from the stairs, so you can't miss it."

Lucy thanked the man, then started off down the curved stairway. Waiting at the bottom was a large room that was obviously used as the living quarters. A couple of tables were together right by the stairs, while the nearby walls were lined with lockers and sleeping pods. Glancing down to Drake, Lucy told herself she wouldn't be using one of those pods if she could help it. She liked having Drake by her side.

A few people were glancing up at her as she passed, but otherwise didn't pay her any mind. Maybe they didn't think a civilian in a torn up, dirty ExoGeni uniform was that odd? Lucy ignored it, heading on into the med bay, where she saw a woman with gray hair and dressed in a medical uniform, working at a terminal. She looked up and, just for a second, a look of surprise crossed her face. Just as quickly, however, it turned into a warm smile.

"Hello there," Dr. Chakwas said, "New to the crew?"

"Just getting a lift to the Citadel," Lucy replied, "Stopping by because I took a little fire on Feros." She shifted a little nervously, pointing to her arm. "I was told to come get checked out."

Now that everything was over, now that she was on the Normandy and soon would be away from Feros, everything that happened was starting to sink in. She was exhausted...She was realizing she hadn't had an actual full-night's sleep in weeks...

"I can get you cleaned up quickly," Dr. Chakwas said, "If you'd like, there's a shower just through here. I'll get you fixed up, and then you can wash up."

Lucy thanked God for her darker skin tone, helping hide the blush that was coming across her face. She knew she had to be rank, but she didn't think it could be _that_ bad. Maybe that's why people were staring at her?

"I'd appreciate that," Lucy said instead, coming over and sitting on one of the small beds Dr. Chakwas pointed out.

Lucy sat as still as she could, watching as Dr. Chakwas pulled out a small tool and several bandages. It was an odd feeling, the medi-gel loosening from her arm. After that, it was a painful process to have her wound cleaned and stitched up.

"I'll bandage you up after you've gotten a shower," Dr. Chakwas said, "Take your time. I can watch your mech."

Lucy nodded, kneeling down to dig out a fresh change of clothes and patted Drake on the head. She told her mech that she'd be back soon, then went into the next room. It was apparently a personal bathroom, most likely for injured soldiers who were in no condition to make the walk to the head. Lucy appreciated the privacy, at least. She stripped down, and decided to throw the ExoGeni uniform into the trash nearby. She wasn't going to use the thing again, plus there wasn't any saving it.

The water in the shower was cold, but Lucy didn't care. Two weeks without a bath meant when she finally got one, she wasn't going to be picky. Cold or not, the water felt absolutely wonderful. Or maybe it was just finally getting to wash her hair, and get rid of the dirt and grime she'd accumulated. It was nice to be clean.

Lucy quickly dressed in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt—she knew sometimes ships ended up chilly—and made sure to keep the sleeve up off of her freshly-stitched injury until the doctor could bandage it. Her arm was starting to hurt now...Wasn't the first time she'd had a gunshot wound. She was just lucky it was her arm. Last time had been in her leg.

Drake was waiting right at the door, and Lucy patted him on the head before going to Dr. Chakwas. She let the woman bandage her up quickly.

"Now, just take it easy for a few days," Dr. Chakwas said, "The wound isn't deep, but it's still a gunshot. Be careful with it."

Lucy nodded, slinging her duffle over her shoulder with her good arm before heading back out into the living quarters of the ship. Her hair was still damp, but she didn't really care. At least it was clean.

The next thing Lucy needed was food. She'd been living off rations that were growing thin on Feros, so Alliance-rationed gruel was a welcomed thing. She didn't care how nasty it was right now, she just wanted food. Once she had the tray, however, she didn't quite know where to sit...

"Hey, new face," a man sitting at one of the tables waved her over. He was sitting with two others—another man, and a woman. The one who called her over was dark-skinned, like Lucy, with black hair. The other man had dark hair as well, but the woman was a brunette. Lucy made her way a bit awkwardly towards them before sitting down.

"I heard we were getting a new member," the one who waved her down said, "I'm Alexi. This is Carlton and Addy."

"I'm Lucy. Nice to meet you," Lucy said, "And I'm not—"

"This stuff with Saren is insane, isn't it?" Carlton asked, "I mean, anyone wanting to bring back a race of sentient machines that wiped out the protheans has to be out of his mind."

Lucy paused. She knew Saren had some weird connection to the protheans, from that beacon Williams said he'd been after. But this was something new. Maybe she could let them believe she was a new crewmember, just for a bit, so she could find out why exactly Saren had gone after Feros...After all, too many people died on Feros. She had nearly been killed herself. She felt she deserved the know the whole truth to what was going on. So for now, Lucy would play the crew member, get what information she could. She'd apologize for it later if she had to...


	6. Chapter Five

_**Chapter Five:**_ _ **A Different Perspective**_

Lucy couldn't just walk away now. When she thought Saren was just some washed-out Spectre-turned-terrorist...that was something Lucy could go home and let professionals handle. Knowing the truth made things different. Saren was insane. He had to be. He wanted to bring back a race of synthetics called 'reapers', who supposedly wiped out the protheans fifty-thousand years ago. How could he not be insane?

And that's why Lucy couldn't just walk away. A terrorist was something officials handled often. An insane Spectre bent on destroying the galaxy? That wasn't something that Lucy could just go sit at home and pretend wasn't happening. She had to do something, so she was going to stay on the Normandy.

She just needed to find where Zachary Shepard went so she could let him know. She looked towards a man she'd seen the commander talking with earlier—a broad-shouldered soldier with dark hair—and made her way over to him. He looked up at her with a kind sort of grin.

"You're the mechanic, right?" he asked, "I'm Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. I heard you were shot on Feros. Are you doing better?"

"Yeah, thanks," Lucy said, "Do you know how much longer before we reach the Citadel?" She wanted to know how much time she had to get to Shepard and convince him to let her stay.

"Actually, there was a change of plans," Kaidan said slowly, "Commander Shepard got word of a distress call in the Artemis Tau cluster. An asari scientist is studying prothean ruins there, and the Commander thinks she might have some information about the protheans and the Conduit. Shepard wants to make sure she's safe. It'll take about a week longer, but we'll still get you to the Citadel."

"No, it's oaky," Lucy said, waving it off, "Seeing all that's going on and what this Saren guy is up to...Well, I can't just go home and pretend it's not happening. I want to help."

"I heard about some of the things you did repairing the rover, and getting them through ExoGeni. We could use talent like yours."

Lucy was taken aback. She didn't think what she'd done was all that impressive. Still, knowing she was being gossiped about did give her a small sense of pride.

"You're planning to stay?"

Lucy turned to see Shepard coming out of a room just to the side. Lucy grinned a bit awkwardly.

"I want to help," she said, "I'm a good engineer, and I know my way around rovers and shuttles. My cousin is a shuttle pilot for the Alliance, and he's the one who taught me the ropes. And I have Drake, he's programmed for combat. I won't be defenseless. I want to be a part of this. I want to do what I can to help."

"Then I'm sure we can find somewhere for you," Shepard said, "Come on, we'll head down to the garage. Show you around, and get you fitted with some armor."

Lucy nodded, following Shepard towards an elevator. She'd never worn much armor before, but if it kept her alive she'd go for it. She'd seen the trouble that Shepard and his crew attracted, and had gotten herself shot because of it. Protection would be good.

The elevator was painfully slow, but the doors finally opened to a garage bay that was spacious and mostly empty. Lucy saw a turian was working on a terminal next to a rover that looked in much better condition than the ones on Feros. On the other side, Lucy noticed Wrex and Williams by a line of lockers, Williams working on some weapon maintenance. When Williams looked up and saw Shepard and Lucy, she stopped her work and stood straight, giving a sharp salute.

"At ease, Chief," Shepard said, "Just showing Lucy around, getting her fitted with some armor."

Williams raised an eyebrow, watching Lucy for a moment, but she finally turned back to her work cleaning a rifle. Lucy wondered what her problem was.

Shepard led Lucy over to a supply officer and soon enough, she was fitted with a decent set of light armor that would keep her alive in a fight. It was a bit stiff, but Lucy was sure she'd get it broken in eventually.

"I think we can put you in charge of the mako," Shepard said once Lucy got her armor and gun stored into an assigned locker, "You can work with Garrus keeping it maintained, and if you're up for it, take the controls when we take it out."

That was something Lucy could do. She wasn't much of a fighter, so playing driver for the real soldiers was something right up her alley. Plus, the mako looked a lot better than the rovers Lucy was used to. This should be easy enough.

Shepard led Lucy over to the mako and introduced her to the turian working there, Garrus Vakarian.

"Wendell?" Garrus asked when Lucy was introduced, "One of Fiona Wendell's girls, right?"

"You know my mother?" Lucy asked in surprise. Shepard seemed fine with letting them talk, as he went off across the bay towards Williams at the weapons rack.

"Worked with her fa few times in C-Sec," Garrus replied, "Mostly after our little encounter at Flux."

"At..." Lucy started, then she felt her face growing warm. Flux. And Garrus was C-Sec, met her mother because of this. A couple of years ago, Lucy and her sister had gone to the club to celebrate Lucy graduating college. Lucy might have gotten very drunk. And might have punched a turian on a dare. A turian who might have turned out to be an off-duty C-Sec officer. And ended up spending the night in a holding cell. Her mother never let her live it down.

And now she was on the same ship as the cop she'd punched. Better yet, she'd be working with the guy. Lucy swore she had the _worst_ luck in the galaxy.

"I...um..." Lucy started, and Garrus' mandibles flared a little. Why were turians so hard to read?

"What's that human saying?" Garrus asked, "Water under the bridge?"

Lucy laughed a little, feeling relieved. If Garrus was willing to forget, then she was fine putting it away as well.

"That works for me," she said, then motioned to the rover, "So this is the mako? Shepard said I'd be working with keeping it maintained and driving it around."

The next couple of hours were spent letting Lucy get acquainted with the mako. It was more advanced than the rovers she'd used in the past—and had heavier fire power. The controls were set up differently, so it took time for Lucy to learn her way around. It would be interesting to get on the ground with this girl and really get a feel for her. Lucy found herself enjoying getting lost in a familiar activity. She'd just started doing a last check on if she knew the weapon systems when she heard someone talking to Garrus outside the mako. Lucy paused in her work, surprised at the tone to the voice. Like someone speaking through a filter. Lucy leaned over Drake—who was laying at the open door—and glanced out to see someone who was obviously female, wearing an environmental suit. Her mask was darkened, hiding the face except for two glowing spots that had to be her eyes and a vague shape of a nose. She was a quarian. Lucy had never met one before, but she heard about them. Most hated them for creating the geth three hundred years ago, but Lucy thought it was stupid holding against an entire race something that their ancestors did. Besides, they had created life. That was impressive.

This quarian seemed to follow another trend that Lucy had heard about. They'd often wear normal clothing over their suits, maybe in a way to hide it somehow. Or at least look a bit more normal. This quarian had some sort of sundress pulled on over her suit. It made her look cute.

Garrus looked up at Lucy, his expression unreadable, before turning back to the quarian he was talking with.

"This is Lucy," he said, "Lucy? This is Tali. She gave us critical information on Saren during our investigation on the Citadel, and she joined up with the team after."

"Nice to meet you, Tali," Lucy said, hopping out of the mako, "I've never gotten to meet a quarian before."

"There aren't many of us around," Tali replied, "Garrus was just telling me you're an engineer yourself."

"Yeah, we can talk if you'd like. I'd love to talk shop with a quarian."

"That'd be nice," Tali said, a little light flickering at the bottom of her face mask as she spoke, "Maybe I could examine the mech you have?"

That was an idea Lucy couldn't help but be a bit frightened over. Quarians created the geth. If anyone would notice that Drake was an A.I., it would be one of them.

"Um...Drake is sort of my personal project," Lucy said awkwardly, "I don't really want anyone getting into his programming but me."

"I guess I can understand that. Don't worry."

Lucy resisted the urge to sigh in relief, though she did agree to join Garrus and Tali for lunch in the mess—didn't matter that they couldn't eat the same food. So, fifteen minutes later, Lucy was sitting with the quarian and turian at a table, all three with the best meals the Alliance could provide. Which was a step up from the generic, freeze-dried rations from Feros.

"The Normandy is an amazing ship," Lucy said, "I've never been on something so advanced."

"The turians helped design it, you know," Garrus said with a note of pride in his voice. Lucy couldn't blame him, though. She'd probably brag about it as well.

"You have to come down and see the drive core later," Tali said, "It's amazing! I've seen so many ships over the years, but never anything like what the Normandy has. I sometimes can't believe I'm here."

"You'll have to give me a tour," Lucy said as they ate. She noticed Tali was sticking to some sort of canned stuff, drinking it through a straw. Lucy couldn't imagine what it had to be like for a quarian. Living their entire lives inside of suits just seemed so sad. Still, she was brimming with questions, but she'd just met Tali. Asking her personal things like how her immune system even worked when she was so isolated wouldn't exactly be a good first impression.

Instead, they just shared stories. Lucy learned a lot about the two aliens, and that Garrus wasn't quite as serious as he seemed to be. Especially when he began sharing stories about C-Sec. Lucy really enjoyed it when the stories started to involve her mother.

"And then Wendell tried to sneak up behind this guy," Garrus was saying, "Got flipped right over his shoulder. A volus half her size, and still took her down. We've never let her forget it."

Lucy snorted into her drink. That was a story she'd never heard before and knew her mother would hate it that Garrus had told her. Lucy had to admit, she really enjoyed the afternoon with Garrus and Tali. She and the quarian spent a great deal of time down in the drive core, sharing advice and talking over the advanced drive core. She even met the chief engineer of the Normandy, a man named Greg Adams. He seemed to enjoy Lucy's interest in the ship and was happy to explain anything she asked about. Like Tali, he'd taken an interest in Drake, but accepted Lucy's explanation that she didn't want anyone but her messing with her mech.

Eventually, however, exhaustion was catching up to Lucy. It had been over two weeks before she'd gotten a proper rest. She knew she needed sleep, and Shepard had assigned her a bunk in the crew quarters. Lucy made her way there, changing into sweatpants and a top before getting into her bunk, letting Drake rest at the foot. It had been weeks since she'd had a proper bed. She didn't care that the mattress was hard, or that the blankets were stiff and itchy. It was a bed. Far better than rocks and using a jacket as a blanket. Hopefully, she could finally get a good, long rest.


	7. Chapter Six

_**Chapter Six:**_

 _ **Aboard the Normandy**_

Unfortunately, sleep wouldn't come. After a couple of hours of tossing and turning in bed, staring at the bunk above hers, and listening to others coming into the room one by one and settling down in their bunks, Lucy decided it was better to just give up. She sighed, sitting up in her bunk. The lights were dimmed lower now, obviously for a night cycle. Lucy checked her watch and saw it was nearly midnight. Sighing, she looked to the foot of her bunk and saw Drake was powered down and in 'sleep mode'. Lucy figured he'd be okay on his own for a bit. He had a good enough security system in place to keep off hackers, and Lucy didn't have to keep him with her all the time.

Lucy got up, grabbing her dark red leather jacket. The ship was a bit chilly, after all. She probably should have pulled on shoes, but she just wanted to get out of the crew quarters quickly. She was restless. Instead, she made her way back into the main living quarters, then up the curved stairway back to the bridge. With the night shift active, there were far less people around. She'd have a good chance to really look at the galaxy map if she wanted. But maybe it would be better to wait until Shepard was around to explain to the crew that Lucy wasn't just thief that sneaked aboard. What Lucy really needed was a good view of the stars. Whenever she needed to clear her head, she'd go out to the viewpoints on the Citadel and just watch the lights shifting through the Wards, or just find somewhere to stare out at the scenery of whatever planet she was on. It was always calming.

Without quite realizing it, Lucy found herself in the cockpit of the ship. It was apparently the only place with views outside of the ship. Lucy moved towards the small window, watching the blue filter of the mass effect fields dance across the view of stars. It was an impressive sight.

"Fluffy bunnies..."

Lucy spun around, realizing she wasn't alone. There was a man in the pilot chair, dressed in the same fatigues as most of the crew, though he had a ball cap pulled down over his face. Lucy stood still for a moment, but hearing the man mumble something about rabbits again, Lucy realized he had to be asleep. Lucy snorted, shaking her head. The Normandy's pilot had to be pretty dedicated to sleep up here. Either that or very lazy.

Lucy turned back and saw the copilot chair was empty. She glanced towards the sleeping pilot again. As long as she wasn't getting in the way, she could sit for a bit, couldn't she? Lucy moved over, sitting at the copilot chair, leaning back and staring at the view through the window above her. It was a peaceful sight. Lucy had been going non-stop for a while now. Even on the Normandy, she was going from one thing to another. Now, she was having trouble sleeping because everything that had happened kept playing through her head.

"Stupid zombies."

Lucy looked to the pilot, face still hidden under his hat. She wondered what he would think if he knew he talked in his sleep? Lucy's father did that, and sometimes she could hold a conversation with him. Though they were often as confusing as they were hilarious. Lucy wondered if the pilot was the same way. Still, she wasn't going to try with someone she didn't know. Instead, Lucy leaned back in the chair. After weeks of sleeping on ricks, the chair was surprisingly comfortable. It was nice to be somewhere quiet, with a nice, peaceful view above her. And it was something that was taking an effect on Lucy after so little sleep. Her eyelids were feeling heavy, sleep finally taking over slowly...

 _Geth moving in towards ExoGeni workers, shooting down innocents without hesitation. A thorian-controlled Lizbeth screaming and charging at her. The thorian creepers closing in and exploding once they got in range. Fai Dan moving closer, gun raised, struggling as he turned the gun on himself—_

Lucy jerked awake and, for a moment, she wasn't sure where she was. It took a few seconds for her to take in the blue-tinted view of endless stars above her, slowly remembering what had happened. That she wasn't on Feros anymore. She was on the Normandy...And she'd just fallen asleep in the copilot chair.

"Making yourself at home?"

Lucy turned quickly to see the pilot was awake now, his hat now off his face on pulled down over his dark hair now. He was smirking at Lucy, a sort of mischief in his green eyes and Lucy noticed he had a pretty nice beard growing.

"Sorry," Lucy muttered, once again grateful for her dark skin to hide her blush, "I didn't realize I fell asleep."

"Helps that you have a guard mech that wouldn't allow anyone near you."

Lucy looked down. Drake had come from the crew quarters and found her, now standing guard at the copilot chair.

"It shocked Commander Shepard earlier."

"What?" Lucy balked. Drake shocked the commander? This was not good. She was going to be thrown off the ship, wasn't she?

"I thought it was pretty funny," came a voice behind Lucy. She went tense, looking over her shoulder to see Shepard himself was leaning against the back of the chair, smirking down at her. Could this get any worse?

"Sorry about him," Lucy said weakly, "I guess I haven't turned off his guard mode yet."

"It's fine," Shepard waved her off, "What're you doing up here? You know there are crew quarters, right?"

"I couldn't sleep," Lucy said lamely.

"So you came to Joker?" Shepard gave a laugh. "Good choice. His humor puts anyone to sleep."

"Oh, that hurts, commander," the pilot said, rolling his eyes.

"I'll leave if I need to," Lucy said, starting to get up, but Shepard waved her off.

"You're fine," he said, "Just get up when the chair's needed."

Lucy nodded as Shepard turned to Joker.

"Ship holding up?" he asked, "It's the Normandy's first long stretch between systems."

"She's doing beautifully," Joker said, "You're lucky you have the best pilot in the galaxy to take the helm."

Lucy gave a snort. "Bit full of yourself, aren't you?"

"Not when it's the truth."

"Well, I'll leave you to it," Shepard said, "Alert me if there's any problems on the way to Therum."

"Aye, aye, commander," Joker said, then turned to Lucy with a smirk as Shepard left. Lucy wasn't sure she liked the look on the pilot's face.

"What?" she asked.

"Did you really blow up your own omni-tool?"

Lucy groaned, leaning her head back against the chair. "I needed to distract the geth."

"So you blew up your omni-tool?" Joker asked, laughing, "You're insane. Of course, with a name like _Lucy_..."

"What's wrong with my name?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow at Joker.

"It's just...Lucy? It's so old."

"My parents like old-fashioned things," Lucy said, "I got lucky. My older sister is named Daphne."

Joker gave a small snort at that.

"Okay, yeah, Lucy is better."

"What about you?" Lucy asked, "Surely your parents weren't cruel enough to actually name you Joker."

"Hey, it fits," the pilot shrugged, "Better than Jeff, anyway."

"And you think Lucy is old-fashioned?" Lucy snorted.

"Oh, that stings," Joker said sarcastically. Lucy couldn't help but grin.

"Shepard says you've joined up," Joker went on.

"Yeah, in charge of the mako," Lucy replied, shifting a little in the seat to look towards Joker easier, "Including driving."

"Good. Everyone's told me Shepard is a bad driver."

Lucy wasn't sure if that was a joke or not.

"I'm just good at these things," Lucy said, "Steve—my cousin—is an Alliance shuttle pilot. He taught me most what I know. It helped me a lot through school. And he taught me to drive." Lucy grinned a little, then looked to Joker, "What about you? How'd you get into flying?"

"I grew up about ships," Joker answered simply.

"It's that easy for you?" Lucy asked. Sure, she grew up about Steve teaching her to work on shuttles and how to fly, but it still was a long time before she settled on being an engineer was what she wanted in life.

"Yep, that easy," Joker said, "I practically grew up on Arcturus Station, my mom worked on the ships there. You don't spend that much time around ships and not get interested in flying."

"I guess that makes sense," Lucy said, stretching back in the chair.

"Comfortable?" Joker asked.

"Actually, yes," Lucy said, "Believe it or not, this chair is the most comfortable thing I've been in for weeks."

"Man, Feros must have sucked,"

"Oh, it wasn't so bad," Lucy said, looking to the pilot, "Once you overlook the geth invading and a giant sentient plant turning the colony into zombies."

Joker snorted. "You must be glad to be back in civilization."

"I wouldn't call a single warship 'civilization'," Lucy said, "But you have beds and running water. That's a huge improvement."

"We aim to please."

Talking with Joker was easy. Lucy couldn't help but like the time she spent sitting there, just talking about whatever came to mind. The way Joker brought humor out of anything was endearing, honestly, and refreshing. It helped take her mind off things.

Too soon, however, Lucy was getting hungry. And realizing she was still in just sweatpants and a top. She got to her feet, asking if Joker wanted to join her down in the mess for breakfast. She was enjoying talking with him.

"Nah, unless I need to hit the head, I stay right here," Joker said. Lucy raised an eyebrow at him.

"So last night wasn't a one-time thing?" she asked, "You really do sleep up here?"

"Pretty much," Joker said, "Saves me accidentally breaking something."

"You're that clumsy?"

Joker was the one to raise an eyebrow this time.

"No one told you?" he motioned to a set of crutches leaning nearby that Lucy hadn't noticed before, "Brittle bones. I have to be careful doing nearly anything."

"Oh..." Lucy said slowly, suddenly feeling awkward, "Um..."

"Don't worry about it," Joker shrugged, "Weren't you going to eat?"

"Oh, yeah," Lucy said, still feeling awkward. She was so full of charm today. "Can I come up later? To talk more, I mean."

"Fine with me."

Lucy nodded, really hoping she hadn't offended Joker. Still, after embarrassing herself yet again, the best thing she could do right now is give the pilot some space. So she made her way back to the crew quarters and changed to jeans and a long-sleeved shirt to cover her bandaged arm. She brushed through her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail before glancing to Drake, whose light was a disapproving yellow currently.

"Oh, don't start," she said, "You needed to recharge. I wasn't going to power you up just to move across a ship."

Lucy moved back into the mess hall, where she saw Carlton sitting on his own. Lucy got herself a tray of food and went to sit across from him.

"Heard you were assigned to the mako," Carlton said, "You have to work with that turian?"

Lucy didn't like the way Carlton had said that. Like 'turian' had been some sort of nasty curse. Lucy had thought that since the Normandy had aliens on board, the crew was fine with it. Looked like she had been wrong.

"Garrus is a nice guy," Lucy said carefully, "I'm enjoying working with him so far."

"I just don't think we should be giving the aliens free reign of the ship," Carlton said, "I don't get why Shepard is letting them stay. I'd have kicked them off by now."

Lucy tensed, glaring at the man across from him. She had the strong urge to punch him. Luckily for him, he was saved from this as another man plopped down in a seat next to the serviceman.

"Oh, shut up, Tucks," he said, focusing dark eyes on Carlton, "We have to have allies."

"There's a difference in 'allies' and turning the most advanced ship in the Alliance into a zoo," Carlton shot back.

"They're not animals," the new man said sharply.

"They might as well be, Emerson. I don't trust them."

"Well, I like them," Lucy snapped, gripping her hand tightly around her fork, "Garrus worked with my mother in C-Sec, and Tali is really nice."

"Shit, you're going to defend the bucket-head, too?" Carlton asked. Lucy's glare narrowed and she had the strong urge to stab the man with her fork.

"She has a name," Lucy hissed.

"You should watch what you say, Tucks," Emerson said warningly, "The commander obviously wants them here for a reason."

"Hey, I'm not the only one who's against this," Carlton said defensively, "Navigator Pressly doesn't like them either, and I overheard Williams arguing with Commander Shepard about it the other day."

"Doesn't matter how many xenophobes are on the ship," Lucy snapped, "We need to work with other races."

Carlton glared at Lucy and looked like he was about to reply, but Emerson cleared his throat.

"Let's simmer down," he said, "We don't need a fight on the ship."

"Fine with me," Lucy said hotly, pushing herself to her feet, "I should be getting to my work anyway."

Breakfast barely touched, Lucy marched off towards the elevator and pressed for the cargo bay. If there was one good thing about a painfully slow elevator, it gave Lucy time to cool off. The last thing she needed was to take out her temper on others. She might end up punching someone. Garrus was willing to overlook a drunken act from years ago, but she doubted he'd be too forgiving of a sober-yet-anger-fueled act now. Besides, Lucy already felt as if she were on eggshells after Drake _shocked_ Commander Shepard. She was going to have to talk with her mech about his protectiveness.

The elevator doors opened and Lucy made her way towards the mako. Tali was there again, talking with Garrus. Lucy noticed Williams was watching them closely from nearby and she remembered Carlton saying he'd overheard Williams arguing with Shepard about the choice to allow aliens on the Normandy. Lucy had thought Williams was fine with the other races sine she'd worked with Wrex on Feros, but apparently she wasn't. Lucy made a note to avoid getting into an argument with the woman. She didn't need someone who could use a gun being pissed at her.

Lucy reached the mako to find Garrus and Tali arguing whether a shotgun or a sniper rifle was better for combat. At least their argument, however, was much more friendly banter than the argument Lucy had with Carlton earlier.

"Oh, hello Lucy," Tali said cheerfully when she saw the woman, "I was just informing Garrus how a shotgun is much better in close quarters."

"And I was letting her know the best thing was to avoid close quarters all together," Garrus said, "Stay at a distance and snipe your enemies down. That's the best tactic in a fight."

"Well, you two can keep me out of that argument," Lucy said with a smirk, "I'm just here to keep the mako in top shape."

"You can't stay neutral," Garrus retorted, "One of us will get you to our side eventually."

"In the meantime," Lucy said, hopping into the mako, but leaving the door open, "I'm fine letting Drake do my fighting."

"Can't hide behind a mech forever."

"I can sure try," Lucy gave a laugh, getting started on the mako's systems. If she was going to be in charge of this thing, she needed to know it inside and out.

And working on the mako, like talking with Joker, was a great way for Lucy to keep her mind off Feros. Plus, it was fun work for someone like her. She loved being hands-on with her work, and she had to admit, the Normandy's mako was a thing of beauty.

It was how Lucy spent most of her time over the next couple of days. She stayed down in the cargo bay, familiarizing herself with the mako and enjoying her meals with Garrus and Tali. They were often joined by Wrex or other members of the crew—including Shepard himself, whom Lucy was slowly realizing wasn't nearly as intimidating as he seemed. Two people Lucy wasn't disappointed never joined them were Carlton Tucks and Ashley Williams. Lucy didn't really have anything against them personally, but she didn't like their opinions about the people Lucy was becoming friends with. She really enjoyed her time with Tali and Garrus, and even Wrex was beginning to grow on her. For a krogan obsessed with a 'good fight', he was surprisingly smart and had a good sense of humor. Plus, Lucy was enjoying listening to his stories as his work as a mercenary. Wrex was definitely an interesting krogan.

When Lucy wasn't spending her time with Garrus working on the mako, exchanging tips on working on engines with Tali, or listening to Wrex's war stories, she was up in the cockpit with Joker. It was always fun talking with him and interesting to learn more about him. In fact, Lucy had just reached the cockpit for a chat with the pilot when she saw Shepard was already there, and Kaidan in the copilot seat.

"Something up?" Lucy asked, looking between the three men.

"We're approaching Therum," Shepard said, "There's a lot of geth activity down there. There's word a prothean expert, Dr. T'soni, is down there. No word if she's even still alive..."

Shepard trailed off, staring at the scrolling information on Joker's screens. He sighed.

"We have to figure out what the geth are after," he said, turning towards Lucy, "Gear up and report to the mako. Looks like you've got your first mission as a part of this crew."


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven: Stumbling Through**

The Mako was a beast. Studying the controls and being behind them were two different things. Lucy adjusted quickly and she had to admit, she liked the mako. Once she got the hang of it, it was a smooth drive. One that was needed with the fact that Therum was practically hell-made-real. A volcanic planet, Lucy had to be careful not to let the mako stray too far from the narrow Cliffside paths or else risk sending the rover into a river of lava. She was pretty sure Shepard would kick her ass if she let that happen.

And geth were making the task very difficult The smaller ones were fine. Lucy could just speed past them and let the mako's shields deflect the bullets away. The problem was the big ones. When they ran into a colossus, Lucy had cursed loudly and slammed down on the breaks hard enough to knock Shepard and his squad from their seats.

"A little warning next time?" Garrus asked as he got back to his seat. Lucy could see the light flickering on Tali's helmet and figured it was a good thing she couldn't hear what the quarian was saying. She was too busy focusing on throwing the mako into reverse and hoping they were far enough out of range that the geth couldn't get a shot off.

"That thing's a lot bigger than the one of Feros," Lucy said slowly, "Are the mako's weapons strong enough to take it out?"

"They're going to have to be," Shepard stated, "Try to stay out of its range and fire hard."

"It's hard to avoid them when we're bottlenecked on this path.

"You pulled through on Feros. You can do it again."

Lucy figured Shepard was just trying to give her a pep talk and it would be pointless to remind him that the last time they came across one of these things, she didn't do any fighting. And it had been smaller than this thing.

"All right, let's see what you got, boy," Lucy muttered, firing up the weapon systems. Her nerves were on haywire. Feros wasn't enough to steady Lucy for the type of combat that Shepard was used to. Still, she was going to push through. She was here to help.

Lucy pushed the mako forward, firing up the main gun...Which did little more than bounce off the colossus' shields.

"Shit!" Lucy hissed, jerking the mako into reverse again, backing out of the geth's range of fire, but it knew they were there now. It was moving towards them. At least it was slow-moving.

"Ideas?" Lucy asked.

"There's a secondary canon," Shepard said, "We need more room to aim."

"Look!" Tali pointed off past the colossus, "If we can get past it, there's an opening up that way. We can lure it there and have more room to fight."

Lucy nodded. Getting past the geth was going to be tricky, though. It was going to take some very precise driving...Time to prove her worth. Lucy took a deep breath. Pushing the mako into drive, she charge forward. One mistake and it would be all over. She needed to focus, and if she lived through this, she was going to have to thank her cousin Steve for all the lessons he'd given her over the years.

The geth was moving closer. Lucy kept the mako steady, trying to ignore the string of curses coming from Garrus behind her. This had to take very precise timing. She watched as the colossus began to rear back, the light on its head glowing brighter and forming a ball of energy. It was now or never.

Lucy jerked the mako into a sharp turn, heading straight for the space between the geth and the edge of the cliff. Garrus' cursing had turned into a long string of very unpleasant names for Lucy, while Shepard was coming up with some very creative curses of his own. Tali, however, was screaming and gripping the edge railing of the mako. Still, they made it past the geth. Lucy stopped the mako and quickly worked the weapons to aim the canon behind them towards the geth and fired.

Only she forgot to lock-on, so the charged shot flew off to the right of the geth. Lucy cursed loudly. The canon would need time to build back up enough charge for a second shot.

"How can you have _missed_?" Garrus called.

"Shut up, concentrating!" Lucy hissed. Drake was giving a long series of low whines and a quick glance showed Lucy that his light had dimmed to a rarely-seen gray meaning he was nervous. Great. That definitely boosted her confidence.

The geth colossus was beginning to turn. Lucy still had the camera turned back and it would take too long to make an escape. Maybe...

Lucy grinned as a wild idea came to her. She switched the mako controls to reverse drive, Lucy charged towards the colossus.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shepard yelled in disbelief.

"Concentrating!"

Lucy didn't go for the edge of the cliff this time. Instead, she went for the other side, opposite direction of which the colossus was turning. She got the mako under one of the colossus' lifted legs and slammed down on the upward thrust, lifting the mako a couple of feet from the ground. It was enough, however. The geth colossus toppled to the side, sending it falling off the edge of the cliff and down into the river of lava below.

"Take that, you giant piece of junkyard scrap!"

Lucy worked the controls to turn the drive forward again and looked in the back to the passengers. Tali, as usual, was completely unreadable behind her mask, but she had her hands on her helmet as if worried it would come off. Shepard was pale beneath the visor of his helmet, shaking his head slowly. Garrus was between them, his mouth hanging open and an expression on his face that Lucy had thought would be impossible for turians.

"You know," Garrus finally said, his voice low, "I think she's still a better driver than you are, Shepard."

"Very funny, Vakarian," Shepard shot back, seeming to pull himself together, "Fancy driving there, Lucy."

"Thanks," Lucy gave a small grin as she turned back to the controls, "Looks like we're clear for now."

"There's probably more, though," Shepard replied, "Stay sharp."

"And try not to use the mako as a weapon again," Garrus added, "It has guns for that."

"You're such a comedian," Lucy rolled her eyes, starting the mako forward again.

At least the geth they encountered after the colossus were easily taken care of by the mako's guns. Lucy still had to do some precise driving to keep on the path and work around the fallen geth, but at least they didn't have to deal with another colossus.

"I think I see the facility," Tali exclaimed, pointing to a closer of buildings up ahead. Oddly, it was geth-free.

"Where's the guard patrol?" Garrus asked.

"Probably all bunkered inside," Shepard said, looking to Lucy, "Will you be okay out here?"

"Actually, I'd rather stick with you," Lucy answered, "Especially if more geth are around."

Shepard nodded. "Let's get the mako out of sight first."

Lucy nodded, driving the mako to a place where it was hidden behind a wall of rocks before the four of them got out of the mako, Drake staying close to Lucy as usual, his light set to the default purple. Slowly, they made their way along a path and to the mine entrance, where cargo crates were scattered around. Abandoned from when the mine was in use.

Lucy didn't like that there weren't geth outside the mines. It was the same on Feros, the colony seeming unguarded...Just to lead into a trap. And it seemed Therum was no different. As soon as they got to the entrance of the mine, several geth seemed to appear from nowhere, surrounding the group with weapons raised.

"Shit! Cover!" Shepard called.

As they scattered to the crates, Lucy thought it could have been handy to have a biotic around. A nice barrier to hold off a few bullets while they got to cover. Lucy kept behind a crate, looking to Drake. His light was an aggressive red, and he charge off towards the closest geth. Lucy sighed. At least he could defend himself. Lucy took a deep breath. It was time to deal with these geth. She couldn't just hide away the whole fight.

Lucy leaned out with her gun, hoping her shields held up to get a few shots off before ducking back into her hiding spot. It was a do-and-repeat processes until the final geth was taken down and the four of them could take stock.

"Report," Shepard was saying, "Injuries? Shields?"

"Nothing major, shields at seventy percent," Garrus said.

"Slight suit tear, but only on the surface," Tali's voice came next, "Seventy-five percent shields."

"Shields at forty percent," Lucy gave a frown as she checked. Apparently she was a lot better at being shot at than the others. A least she had a spare shield pack. She called Drake over and checked his systems. His offence system was nearly depleted. Lucky would have to give him a good work-over once they were back on the Normandy.

Once everyone was sure they were fine, they moved towards the mines. Lucy had no idea what to expect. A geth-overrun facility? Would this be like ExoGeni all over again? Lucy hoped not.

"How deep do you think this thing goes?" Garrus asked, staring down the long tunnel entrance of the mines. Drake gave a series of clicks and Lucy's omni-tool began beeping. Lucy checked the message that popped up. He'd used a quick echo down the tunnel.

"Eighty-six meters," Lucy said, then on the others' looks, "I use my mech for more than just fighting."

"Pretty useful to have around," Shepard stated, "Think it can warn us of any geth up ahead?"

"I'd have to work on his programming," Lucy answered, "It's not a simple task of clicking a few buttons. I'll work on it when we get back."

Truth be told, Lucy really should have done this programming already. Drake did have an alert system, but it was very crude and basic, and had a very limited range. The only reason Drake was able to warn of geth at ExoGeni was because he was hacked into security feeds. It was going to take time to get him upgraded.

What they found at the end of the tunnel was a massive cave, filled with walkways and a few abandoned tents. Along one area were indents with ruins that reminded Lucy of sterile doctor offices. Yet at the same time, it was old and crumbling. It was strange. They made their way along the walkway, and Lucy couldn't help but wonder how long these things had been there. Were they prothean, or build by the minders that once worked here?

Whoever it was who build it, they didn't do well. The structure groaned and shifted under their weight, and Lucy was afraid it was going to give out from under them. And worst off, the place was crawling with geth.

"Are you sure this asari is even still alive?" Lucy asked quietly as they watched a group of geth below them, "Could she even survive on her own?"

"You survived Feros," Shepard pointed out.

Lucy had to admit, he had a point there. Besides, this Dr. T'soni was an asari. Naturally biotic. She wasn't defenseless. Hopefully she wasn't in too much trouble.

"Think we should just take these things out?" Garrus asked.

"Seems like we're going to have to if we're going to find Dr. T'soni," Shepard gripped his assault rifle, "Let's go."

Lucy took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves as the geth started to open fire and they shot back. At least fighting geth was becoming easier. She was getting better with her pistol as well. She was hitting more often than not now, and she was slowly learning to duck quicker. And she was managing to take out geth without a mako. Lucy started to move away from the others, spreading out to cover more ground. She was becoming more comfortable in a fight. She didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Unfortunately, Lucy wasn't that great at multitasking in a fight yet. She had all her focus on the enemies that she was forgetting to pay attention to where she was going.

Lucy lost her footing. The walkway had been broken, part of it hanging at an angle. Lucy hadn't been paying attention, so when her foot hit the unstable, uneven walkway, she lost balance. With a yelp, she fell backwards. Lucy lost grip of her gun as she made an attempt to catch anything to keep herself up. Any attempt just had the rubble slip through her fingers and Lucy went tumbling downward until she hit hard ground, knocking her breath from her and cause her vision to swim and darken for a second. Lucy groaned, laying on her back where she fell, not wanting to move. Everything hurt.

"Who're you? What do you want?"

Lucy slowly opened her eyes and pushed herself up slightly. Standing nearby, in a simple outfit suited for a volcanic planet, was an asari. She was blue, and glowing, a hand held out. Charged for a biotic attack. Lucy hurried to her feet, wincing slightly, as she held her hands up.

"Wait!" Lucy said quickly, "I came here with some others, we're looking for a Dr. Liara T'soni!"

The asari lowered her hand, but she was still glowing.

"What do you want with me?"

"You're Dr. T'soni?" Lucy asked. She should have realized. How many asari could there be on this planet? Still, this woman just looked so...young. Barely more than eighteen or nineteen by human standards.

"Yes, I am," the asari said, "What do you want with me?"

"Lucy! Lucy, are you okay?"

Lucy looked up, as did Liara, to see Shepard about them. Too far up to climb Just Lucy's luck.

"I'm fine!" Lucy called, cupping her hands around her mouth, "And I found Dr. T'soni!"

A sound drifted down that sounded suspiciously like laughter. Lucy glared above her. Good to know her friends were getting a laugh from this.

"Only you would find someone through an accident," Shepard called, "You see any way out?"

"Let me check," Lucy called back. She looked around, and noticed Liara was staring at her curiously. At least she'd stopped glowing. Without the glow, Lucy could notice there was a spray of dark purple freckles across the asari's face.

"Who _are_ you?" Liara asked.

"Oh, I'm Lucy Wendell," Lucy answered as she began to examine their surroundings. They were in some sort of cave, and there wasn't a single path of any sort out of there, except for straight up. And climbing wasn't a choice

"How did you get in here?" Lucy asked, turning back to Liara.

"I...fell, like you did," Liara answered, and Lucy swore the asari's cheeks went a deeper blue, "And I haven't found any way out. I even tried to climb, but the structures are too unstable."

Lucy sighed, looking back up to above and cupping her hands around her mouth again as she called up, "There's no climbing up, and these walls are solid rock!"

"Think you can blast through?" Shepard asked. Lucy snorted.

"With what?"

"You can always blow up your omni-tool again," Garrus called.

Lucy glared above her, well aware of the look Liara was giving her. She was never going to live that down, was she?

"We'll find a way to get you out," Shepard called, "Just sit tight."

Well, there wasn't anything else to do, was there? Lucy sighed, sitting on a rick, wishing Drake was down here with her. Of course, if he'd fallen through, he probably would be banged up past the point of repair.

"You came here looking for me?" Liara asked, sounding confused as she sat on a nearby rock, "What do you need me for?"

"Shepard needs help on his mission," Lucy explained, pulling off her helmet. It was even hotter down here than it was outside. "We're hunting down a rogue Spectre, and there's a prothean connection. And you're a prothean expert, apparently."

"What do protheans have to do with a rogue Spectre?"

"Something about a vision Shepard got from a prothean beacon," Lucy explained, slowly giving Liara the details Lucy knew of what was going on. Liara's eyes slowly grew wider as Lucy spoke, and by the end, she was leaning forward on her rock so far, Lucy was afraid the asari was going to topple over.

"You believe a race of ancient A.I.s destroyed the protheans and Saren is trying to bring them back?" Liara asked when Lucy finished, and Lucy noticed she almost sounded in awe.

"He attacked Feros," Lucy said, "It's where I met Shepard. He saved me and the entire colony, and after I found out what was going on, I couldn't walk away from this. I have to help."

"Why would Saren attack a colony?" Liara asked, "What does some small colony have to do with anything?"

Lucy frowned, shifting her weight. Feros wasn't just 'some small colony' to her, not after everything that happened. Still, Lucy explained to Liara what had happened on Feros. She didn't go into details—especially not on what it was like going through ExoGeni or fighting the colonists—but she did tell the asari about the thorian and why Saren had been after it. Again, Liara looked at her with an expression of wonder and fascination.

"Oh Goddess, the things you've seen..."

"It's not nearly as great as you think," Lucy snapped bitterly.

"Lucy? You hear me?"

Lucy jumped at the voice coming from her helmet in her lap. Feeling her face grow warm, Lucy pulled her helmet back on, clearing her throat a bit. Explaining everything to Liara had gotten her throat dry.

"Yeah, I hear you," Lucy said, "Have you figured out a way to get us out of here?"

"We have an idea," Shepard replied, "But it's a bit risky. You and Dr. T'soni need to get to cover so you don't get hit by the blast."

"The blast?" Lucy echoed, glancing to Liara, "You're going to blow something up?"

"And here I thought you'd approve."

Lucy sighed, shaking her head. The sad thing was, she did approve. She did like a good explosion.

"What side are you coming in from?" she asked instead.

"West. Get away from the walls."

"Okay, we're on it," Lucy said, turning to Liara as she checked her omni-tool for which way was west, "Okay, Shepard has a plan, but we have to move."

"What?" Liara asked. Lucy grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the wall that would soon be rubble.

"They're going to blast their way in," Lucy explained, "We don't want to get hit by that blast."

Lucy backed the two of them into a corner as she raised her hand to the side of her helmet.

"Okay, we're ready," she told Shepard.

"All right, here we go," Shepard replied.

Lucy braced herself. Liara made an odd noise next to her. Moments later, the ground shook and rocks came flying around the room. Lucy ducked, covering her face despite the protection of her helmet, but Liara was glowing again and threw a hand out. A shimmering barrier was thrown up in front of them, the rain of rocks bouncing off harmlessly. Lucy couldn't help but admire the asari's biotics.

The dust settled and Liara's barrier faded, only for her to stumble and fall. Lara knelt next to her just as Shepard, Garrus, and Tali came through.

"Dr. T'soni?" Lucy asked as the asari gave a groan, a hand on her head.

"I'm fine," Liara said, "Just a little...dazed. I've been trapped down here for some time. Creating a barrier took a lot out of me."

"How long have you been down here?" Shepard asked, helping Lucy get Liara to her feet.

"I don't know," Liara shook her head slowly, "I lost track of time."

"Well, you're safe now," Garrus said, "We've taken care of the geth, and the mako is waiting outside."

"Lucy was telling me about your mission," Liara straightened herself up fully and looked to Shepard, "I...I can hardly believe it. I've studied the protheans for fifty years, trying to learn what happened to them, and you've just had the answers fall into your lap?"

Lucy couldn't help but notice Liara sounded a bit jealous about that.

"How about we talk about this on the Normandy?" Shepard asked.

"Good idea," Lucy added, "I'm ready to get out of here."

Drake buzzed, putting himself at Lucy's side. She'd lost her gun, so right now she was pretty much useless. Especially since Drake was low on his own offensive settings. Lucy hadn't thought about bringing a backup. She really needed to put more thought into what they were doing.

"How did you get us out?" Liara asked as they climbed back through the rubble, and Lucy saw they were in one of those hospital-sterile rooms, buts of the wall and ceiling crumbled away.

"We blew the wall out with some of the mining equipment," Garrus stated simply, "Whoever had been mining here just left everything behind."

"Let's just hope you didn't make the place—"

Lucy cut off as the ground trembled and pieces of the walls began to crumble even more. Lucy cursed. She had to jinx things, didn't she?

"All right, everyone move!" Shepard ordered, his hand still on Liara's arm as they pushed for the entrance to the mine.

Lucy hurried off after the others, Drake at her feet. She really wished she still had her gun. She should have thought to bring a backup.

Especially since when they got to the entrance, the tunnel leading out was blocked by a krogan of all things, with a group of geth. And the mine was still caving in. That was just their luck.

"How about you just hand over the asari?" the krogan asked, adjusting the shotgun he carried, "Or not. That would be more fun."

"I think she'll stay with us, thanks," Shepard declared and, without warning, opened fire. Lucy barely had time to realize what was happening before pulling Liara to cover nearby.

"Lucy," Shepard's voice came over the helmet commset, "Get Liara out of here. We'll hold off the krogan, then meet you at the mako."

"But—"

"That's an order, Wendell!"

Lucy groaned. She didn't like the idea of having to sneak around the battle with no weapon. And Drake would be no help, nor would Liara. She nearly passed out just from creating a barrier, after all. Lucy was going to have to be careful.

"All right," Lucy turned to Liara, "Stay low and follow me."

Liara gave a small nod, a look on her face that was somewhere between fear and determination. Lucy couldn't help but wonder if that was the same look she'd ha don Feros. Or how she still looked now. She wasn't exactly used to all of this yet.

The two crept their way around the edge of the battlefield, Lucy constantly glancing to the others. The krogan was charging towards Tali, who dived out of the way. Lucy's breath caught for a moment, but Liara tapped her on the shoulder and Lucy turned her attention back to her own task. She had to get Liara out of here. The others would be fine.

The only problem for Lucy was that once they got out, geth were blocking the path that led to where the mako was hidden. And Lucy didn't have a gun, nor could Drake fight without risking a total meltdown. Lucy groaned and pulled Liara behind a pile of rocks, Drake coming along behind. Lucy noticed Liara seemed out of breath—probably still worn down from creating that barrier earlier.

Lucy glanced around the edge of the rock to see the geth hadn't realized they were there, so they had that at least. There was just no way to get past them. Unless...

Lucy groaned. She knew exactly what she could do. She just couldn't believe she was about to do this...Again. She pulled up her omni-tool and began to work with the functions, same as she had on her first one on Feros.

"What are you doing?" Liara asked curiously.

"Clearing out the geth," Lucy replied, setting the omni-tool to overload before throwing it towards the geth. It exploded just as it landed on the ground between them, and Lucy ducked away as pieces of flaming geth flew in different directions. One of the geth's heads tumbled past them before falling off the edge of the nearby cliff.

"You...Are you insane?" Liara's voice had gone an unbelievably high optic that Lucy was surprised she was even able to hear it.

"It worked, didn't it?" Lucy replied, "Come on."

Lucy took Liara by the arm once again, heading for where the mako was hidden. Unfortunately, when they and her mech reached the rover, Lucy realized a huge flaw in her decision to blow up her second omni-tool.

"...Shit," Lucy muttered, "We can't get into the mako until the others are back."

"What?" Liara's voice squeaked again, "Why?"

"No omni-tool," Lucy replied, "I can't deactivate the security."

Liara gave Lucy a look as if she really did believe Lucy was insane. She sighed, looking around. She had a feeling she would get that look a lot.

"So...We just sit here and wait?" Liara asked in disbelief.

"Basically," Lucy said with a sigh, already feeling herself sweating in her armor again. Why did Liara have to be researching prothean on a volcanic planet?

"At least we're out of sight here," Lucy went on, settling herself on the ground as Drake came up to her, his light the orange of low energy. The heat must be getting to him, on top of the overexertion of his weapon system.

"Don't worry, boy," Lucy said, patting the mech on the head, "We'll get back to the Normandy soon and you can recharge."

"You have a pretty advanced mech," Liara commented, "Even though it seems like an old model. I didn't think they even made this version of the FENRIS anymore."

"Yeah, I rescued him from a junkyard, on one of my first jobs," Lucy said, "Rebuilt him and programmed him myself."

"Is it an A.I.?"

"What?" Lucy choked on the word, staring at the asari, "No! Of course not! A.I.s are illegal!"

Lucy was fully aware of the low whirl coming from her mech as Liara gave her a look that Lucy couldn't quite read. As long as she bought the story that Drake was just an advanced V.I., rather than a full A.I., things would be okay.

"He's just pretty advanced," Lucy muttered, looking to her mech, "I did the programming myself, like I said."

"It does seem like good programming," Liara commented, "And it seems like a good thing to have around. I probably would have been better off if I had a mech with me."

"He is really useful," Lucy replied with a grin to the asari, "I usually work in remote places, helping with start-up colonies. Having a guard-mech really puts you at ease and is a huge help when dealing with the mercenaries."

"I guess I should look into this before I head out on my next dig."

Before their conversation could go further, the ground under them began to shake. Lucy cursed—she was beginning to realize she'd cursed more times since meeting Shepard than she had in her entire life so far—and hurried to her feet. Shepard, Tali, and Garrus were coming around the corner up ahead, Shepard shouting something into his headpiece. The three stumbled to a stop when they noticed Lucy and Liara waiting outside of the mako for them.

"Why are you out here?" Shepard shouted over the rumbling around them, "You were supposed to wait _inside_ the mako!"

"No omni-tool!" Lucy caked back, "Can you open it up?"

"You actually blew it up again?" Tali asked in disbelief.

"Can we discuss this away from the exploding volcano?" Lucy shouted, the ground shaking more underneath them.

"Oh, right," Shepard said, pulling out his omni-tool, "Joker is on his way with the Normandy."

Shepard got the mako unlocked and they all piled in, Lucy helping Drake before rushing to the controls and firing it up, pushing the tank forward. The external sensors were going crazy, warning of impending volcanic eruption. Lucy tried to ignore them, focusing instead on the dot signaling that the Normandy was coming closer. She had to get into the range of its beam to recall the mako...

She felt the mako jerk upwards as the beam took hold, launching the mako up towards the open-waiting garage bay of the Normandy. Lucy sighed in relief. It was time to get the hell off this planet, and hopefully never return. All in all, Lucy thought she'd done okay on her first mission. She just needed to make sure blowing up omni-tools didn't become a habit.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight: Making Friends**

"You actually blew up a second omni-tool?"

Lucy groaned, resting her face in her hands. She was in the cockpit—leaning against a wall as Kaidan was currently in the copilot seat—and had been telling Joker what happened on Therum. Though now Lucy was regretting sharing the story.

"I had no gun," Lucy pointed out, "Drake's power was low, and geth were blocking the way towards the mako. And everyone else was fighting a krogan."

Joker laughed, and Lucy had the strong urge to hit him over the head—brittle bones or not. Instead, she reached over and snatched his hat off his head.

"Hey! That's playing dirty!" Joker whined, reaching for his hat but Lucy held it out of reach with a smirk.

"Well, I'm the type to do that," Lucy replied, "Blowing up omni-tools and all. So you might want to be a bit nicer."

Kaidan made an odd noise, something like a cough. Joker shot him a glare as Lucy pulled the pilot's hat own on her head, where it fit a bit loosely.

"You've got a big head," she commented. This time, there was no mistaking the laugh from Kaidan.

"And you're braver than you look," Joker shot back, "That hat's never been washed."

Lucy immediately yanked the hat off her head and threw it onto Joker's lap with a look of disgust.

"Thank you," Joker said, a smug look on his face as he returned the cap to his own head.

"You seriously never wash that thing?" Lucy asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Of course not. That's what makes it lucky."

Lucy had no idea if the pilot was being serious or not. It was hard to tell with him. The nickname 'Joker' didn't help, either.

"I prefer my lucky charms to be clean," Lucy said, deciding to just go with it, "Not always wear the same smelly hat. How long have you had that thing?"

"Few months, when I was first assigned to the Normandy," Joker said with a shrug, then when Lucy raised an eyebrow at him, "It's not the hat that's lucky. It's the not washing it. Dad taught me that."

"And you can't have a more sanitary lucky habit?"

"This from the woman who works on backwater planets for a living."

Lucy snorted, smirking at the pilot.

"We at least have facilities to bathe and wash our clothes," she said.

"From what I heard, Feros didn't," Joker shot back, and Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Feros had that little problem with the geth wrecking things," she said, "It was pretty okay before then."

"Don't forget the zombies."

"I was trying to," Lucy replied bitterly.

"Wow, you really have something against zombies, don't you?"

Lucy glared, leaning on the back of Joker's seat to look down at him better.

"It was more the fact that people I knew were being brainwashed into trying to kill me."

"Okay, yeah, I can see how that would ruin your mood," Joker said. Lucy noticed Kaidan shaking his head nearby.

"Joker, is Wendell up there?" a voice came over the intercom. It was Ashley Williams. Lucy frowned, wondering what she wanted. She usually didn't want to talk with the woman if she could help it. Joker glanced up at her and Lucy shook her head quickly, hoping he would get the hint. From the smirk on his face, he got the hint all right.

"Yeah, she's right here," Joker said, pressing on the intercom, "I'll send her your way."

"I'll remember this," Lucy promised, glaring at the pilot's smug look before heading off. She could hear Kaidan saying something to Joker, but couldn't make out what. She didn't have time to think on it, however. Lucy made her way down the stairs into the mess hall and was turning towards the elevator, but she was stopped by a familiar face. Addy Chase, one of the soldiers Lucy had met when she first arrived.

"Addy, hi," Lucy said, "Um...Need something? Because Chief Williams needs me for something and—"

"No, I was just going to ask if you'd like to hang out with some of us in the mess tonight."

Lucy almost accepted, but then remembered Addy had been with Carlton when she first arrived. Someone Lucy butted heads with.

"Who all will be there?" she asked slowly.

"A few of the crew," Addy gave a shrug, "Not sure who all will be there. Coming?"

Lucy couldn't think of any excuse to refuse. She gave Addy a grin, saying she'd join them. She'd just hope that Carlton wasn't there. Lucy headed on to the elevator, heading to see what Williams wanted. Lucy really hated how slow the elevator was, but not soon enough she was finally in the cargo bay. She saw Shepard talking with Wrex, and Ashley was cleaning rifles while Garrus seemed to be watching over her shoulder. Ashley didn't look too happy about that, and when she saw Lucy, she said something to Garrus and he looked up, then started over towards her.

"Hey Garrus," Lucy grinned at him, "Sorry, but Chief Williams called me down—"

"Yeah, because I have a problem working on the mako."

"What?" Lucy asked, dumbfounded. She hadn't known Garrus long, but she did know between him and Tali, there was nothing they couldn't handle on the mako. Was Garrus just pulling some prank?

It turned out it wasn't a prank. Garrus pointed towards the mako and when Lucy looked over, she instantly saw what the problem was. Drake was standing next to the console, his light an aggressive red. Lucy had noticed he wasn't around, but she thought he was just in the crew room. Where she'd instructed him to be. Damn A.I.

"It's not letting me near the mako," Garrus said, "Keeps shocking anyone who gets within five feet. I figured we'd give you a chance before getting Tali to hack it."

"Y-yeah, thanks," Lucy did not want to think about what would happen if a quarian tried to back an A.I. That would just lead to an endless supply of problems. Not to mention Lucy would most likely end up in prison for creating Drake in the first place. Yeah, best not to let Tali anywhere near Drake's programming.

Lucy went over to the mako, kneeling down in front of her mech. The only problem was she had no omni-tool to pretend to be checking his systems remotely. Instead, Lucy had to pop open a panel hidden on his chest and pretend to work on it there. Drake whirred disapprovingly.

"Oh shut up," Lucy whispered, "You're the one causing problems down here. I was having a good chat with some of the crew."

Drake gave a few clicks, his light changing to yellow. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"I'm allowed to make friends, you know," she said, "And people need to work down here. You can't go into guard mode here on the Normandy, okay? We work for these people. Let Garrus work."

Drake gave a low whine, his light turning blue as Lucy closed up the panel, then patted him on the head.

"Don't try guilt tripping me this time," she said, standing up and turning back to Garrus, "He shouldn't bother you again. Once I get an omni-tool, I'm going to work on his programming and do something about his guard mode on the ship."

"Yeah, that would be helpful," Garrus said, going to the console, "While you're here, though, why don't you help me repair the damage you caused?"

"I was a bit rough on it, wasn't I?" Lucy said a bit sheepishly, pulling off her leather jacket and grabbing a tool before heading to the mako. She could have sworn Garrus chuckled.

"The mako is a tank, not a battering ram," he said, "You're supposed to _shoot_ the geth."

"Could have said something while we were on Therum," Lucy said, getting to work. At least she had plenty of practice repairing vehicles.

"I was a bit distracted worrying for my own safety."

"Funny," Lucy said dryly.

"Don't be like that, Vakarian, she's actually pretty skilled."

Lucy glanced up from her work to see Shepard coming towards them, apparently done talking with Wrex.

"Anyone is skilled compared to you," Garrus said.

"That hurts, Vakarian."

Lucy was beginning to notice that was Shepard's usual response when he didn't have a comeback. He wasn't that original.

"You have to admit, though," Shepard went on, "That trick with the colossus was some talented driving."

"And left some talented damage across the main gun," Garrus countered, "We need to take care of it so it doesn't interfere with the firing system."

Garrus looked towards Lucy as he spoke and she sighed. It didn't take a genius to know what he was getting at. Slowly, she held up her tools.

"And I take it I'm the one climbing up there to fix it?"

"You catch on fast."

Lucy rolled her eyes, but climbed onto the mako to begin work. It was how she spent the next several hours, working with Garrus to repair the damages to the mako that she herself had caused. Seeing the result of Therum, she started to think simply running over the geth hadn't been a good idea after all.

At least it wasn't boring work. Lucy enjoyed working on the mako, and she and Garrus shared stories while they worked. Even Tali wandered over at one point and offered to help. Lucy really enjoyed talking with the two of them and it definitely made the work go by faster.

By the time they were done—for the day, anyway—Lucy was exhausted and starving. It was only then she remembered she was supposed to be joining some of the crew in the mess hall. It seemed she wasn't the only one who noticed her absence. Just as Lucy was shutting off her tools, Addy was coming out of the elevator.

"Lucy! There you are!" she said, hurrying over, "We were wondering if you were coming, so I came to check on you." She glanced at Garrus with a grin. "You're not over-working the poor girl are you?"

Lucy watched as Garrus' mandibles twitched a little and he made an odd noise that almost sounded like a chuckle. She'd always had trouble reading turians—even with the fact she grew up on the Citadel—but at least Garrus seemed at ease with Addy. That was an encouraging thing.

"We just finished for the day," Lucy said, grabbing her jacket and squatting down next to Drake, "Stay down here, okay? Stay out of trouble."

Drake's light turned yellow and he gave a low whir, and Lucy rolled her eyes, patting him on the head before heading for Addy. The woman seemed to bounce slightly as she made her way to the elevator. The image of a woman in military fatigues, her hair in a tight bun, practically skipping across the cargo bay of a war ship was an amusing sight.

"It's a shame we haven't had too much time to talk," Addy said, "You've spent most of your time down here, haven't you?"

"Been learning the mako," Lucy replied, "But I have been talking to a few of the crew. I've seen Hector Emerson a few times when I've been with Tali and Garrus."

"Emerson's great," Addy grinned brightly at Lucy. "He's actually one of my group I'm introducing you to."

"Really? Good. I like him," Lucy was relieved to hear it. Emerson didn't get along with Tucks, so hopefully this meant the xenophobic ass wouldn't be in this group. "You didn't say earlier, who al is there?"

"Emerson, like I said," Addy said, starting to list off on her fingers, "Connor Carr and Peter Hadad, they both work in Navigation. And Martha Bocharova, she's in Engineering—"

"I've talked to her a few times," Lucy said, recognizing the name, "I've seen her working with Tali and Engineer Adams occasionally."

"Good! One less introduction!"

"So, where do you and Emerson work?" Lucy asked.

"Oh, he works in communications," Addy said, "I'm in weapons."

Lucy stared as the elevator stopped and they headed out. The fact someone as...bouncy as Addy was in control of the ship's weapons wasn't a comforting thought. Hopefully she was a lot more serious when it came to her job.

They made their way for one of the tables where three people were waiting. Lucy recognized Emerson and the blonde Martha Bocharova, but the other two men Lucy had seen around yet never talked to—both dark-haired, though one had darker skin and that look of a mixed bag of ethnicities. Most people Lucy knew were like that. Addy quickly introduced them as Hadad and Carr, respectively.

"Nice to meet you all," Lucy said, settling down in an empty chair, food already on a tray and waiting for her, "I'll admit, I've been wrapped up in my work on the mako and haven't talked with the crew much, outside of Garrus and Tali."

"And the pilot," Hadad said with a smirk, "I've seen you go up to the cockpit a lot."

Lucy rolled her eyes, though she wondered. Did she really visit Joker so much that people were taking notice?

"He's fun to talk to," she said, "And he doesn't move. Kinda requires going to him."

"Yeah, but you go up there a lot."

"Hadad, I didn't invite Lucy here for you to tease about her friends," Addy pointed her fork at him in warning.

"No, you invited her here so Carr could ask about that asari," Hadad shot back.

" _You_ wanted to hear about her," Carr said, though his face went a bit red.

"You brought me here to talk about Dr. T'soni?" Lucy asked in annoyance. Couldn't they just go talk to her themselves?

"Actually, I just wanted to hear about Therum," Martha said, "We heard you did some crazy things with the mako down there."

Lucy groaned. Just how fast did news spread on this ship? Even random crewmembers were hearing about her.

"We've had a bet going," Carr said with a smirk, "Bocharova here says there's no way you used the mako to knock a colossus into a volcano."

"Well..." Lucy couldn't believe people were making bets on her. Were they going to start betting on what she would do next? "It was a cliff, not a volcano. But there was lava below."

"You mean you actually _did_ take one down?" Martha asked in shock.

"With a _tank_!" Lucy protested, "If it weren't for the mako, there's no way I'd have gotten through that!"

"You're still insane," Emerson said, shaking his head slowly. Lucy pursed her lips slightly in annoyance.

"I think I'd rather be talking about the asari," she said bitterly, which caused the others to laugh.

"Why'd you join up, anyway?" Emerson asked, "I mean, more the merrier, but every other human on this ship is Alliance."

People were on this ship who knew all about the stupid things she did, but didn't know she had been on Feros? Lucy found that surprising.

"I was working on Feros when the geth invaded," she said, "After seeing all that, why wouldn't I want to stop it from happening again?"

"She has a point there," Carr said, "We all read the reports of what happened."

"Therum must have seen like a vacation," Martha said with a laugh.

"Hmm..." Lucy tapped her chin in false thought, "Feros had geth and a mind-controlling ancient plant. Therum had even more geth and volcanic activity that could kill me in an instant. Yeah, that'd definitely loads better."

"I'd take volcanos over mind control any day," Hadad said.

"This hair isn't for heat," Martha said, running a hand through her short locks, "Give me the mind control zombies."

Lucy just stared at them. How could military always be so crass about things? Geth were one thing. They were evolving, but they were still deadly machines with no consideration for organic life. But those 'mind-controlled zombies' were unlucky colonists who had been caught in the middle. Lucy wasn't sure she could just ignore that they were human.

"We're really putting the pressure on Saren and his geth now," Martha went on, "Anyone know where we're going next?"

"Some say Nivara," Emerson said, "Looking for an asari matriarch in leagues with Saren. Maybe that Dr. T'soni knows her."

"Either way, we're actually heading for the Citadel," Carr commented, shoving a forkful of rice into his mouth.

"Yeah, we've taken a lot of damage lately," Martha said, "Especially from the volcanos on Therum."

"Commander Shepard wants to dock the Normandy for repairs," Carr added, "And give the crew a bit of shore leave before we head out again."

"I grew up on the Citadel," Lucy commented, "It'll be nice to check in on my family."

And get herself a new omni-tool. Hopefully one she wouldn't have to blow up. Those things were expensive, after all.

"My sister will actually be home for once," Lucy went on, "She just finished up a tour, and is planning on taking up a job at one of the Citadel's hospitals. We're always away, so we haven't actually gotten to talk face-to-face in over a year."

"Military life does that," Addy said with a bit of a frown.

"And working on start-up colonies," Lucy added, "But it'll be great getting to see family again."

The rest of the evening was spent talking about just that—families. The five of them shared stories and talked about where they were from, asking each other plenty of questions. It turned out Carr had grown up on the Citadel like Lucy, but in a completely different Ward. Addy was a colony kid, though Hadad, Martha, and Emerson had all grown up on Earth. They all had plenty of stories to share, and Lucy was enjoying all of it. It was nice to get to know the crew more. She needed friends here on the Normandy, and she had to admit, this group would be a nice bunch to have as friends.


	10. Chapter Nine

_**Normality**_

The ship was darker than usual when Lucy woke the next morning. It seemed the night cycle was still in place and looking at the clock, it was 5 A.M. Citadel Time. Apparently the Normandy synched to that since Shepard worked for the Council. Lucy was still trying to adjust to it after being on Feros for so long. Hopefully she'd revert back soon enough. Given she grew up on the Citadel, it was her 'default' time.

Now that she was awake, Lucy wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep. Sighing, she pushed her blanket off and sat up, her feet hitting the cool floor and she shivered. Lucy looked around, seeing a few beds occupied and others not. Drake wasn't in the room—apparently still a bit short with Lucy, he was keeping down to the cargo bay. If it weren't for the fact that Lucy knew Tali well enough to respect staying away from Drake's programming—and that Drake wouldn't let her near it anyway—Lucy would be a bit nervous about him down there.

Lucy grabbed her leather jacket and got up, vaguely wondering if Joker was up yet or still asleep in his chair. Either way would be an amusing waste of time, so Lucy pulled on her shoes and made her way from the crew quarters. She was halfway along the mess hall when she realized she wasn't the only non-Alliance awake. Liara T'soni was at one of the tables, fork in one hand and data-pad in the other. Lucy thought about leaving her be—she seemed absorbed in what she was reading—but Liara looked up and blinked at her.

"Oh, hello Miss Wendell."

"Lucy's fine," Lucy said, coming over and sitting across from the asari, "You doing any better now?"

"Oh, yes, thank you," Liara said, "Dr. Chakwas is surprisingly knowledgeable about asari physiology."

"She patched me up after Feros," Lucy commented, wondering how different asari had to be. Lucy had to admit, she never paid much attention during the alien cultures classes in school. "I like her a lot."

Liara nodded, turning back to her data-pad. Lucy frowned, thinking she was being quite rude.

"What's so interesting?" she asked.

"N-nothing!" Liara said quickly as she dropped her data-pad, then seemed too quick in grabbing it again, "I-I was...was just doing a bit of research. For a future dig. When all this is over."

Lucy raised an eyebrow at the woman. She was a horrible liar. Lucy reached over and snatched the data-pad from Liara, the asari's eyes widening in a look of horror. Lucy looked down and noticed Liara had pulled up an extranet page, the words 'Commander Zachary Shepard, Human Alliance' typed into a search bar. She looked back at Liara, whose head was down and her face flushed purple. Was she _blushing_?

"Why are you searching information on the commander?" Lucy asked.

"I...was curious..."

"You could just ask him."

Liara's eyes widened in horror again, the purple flush if her face growing darker.

"I don't know much about humans," she said, her voice in a rush now, "How do I bring up something like that?"

"You just ask," Lucy told her, "Just tell him you want to know more about him."

If possible, Liara suddenly looked more terrified and snatched back her data-pad. Lucy fought back a laugh and figured it was time to change the subject.

"So, you study protheans?" she asked, "I don't know much more than what was taught at school, though given what's going on now..."

"Oh, I've dedicated my life to studying the protheans!" Liara said eagerly, and Lucy instantly regretted bringing them up. Liara seemed to think Lucy admitting her lack of knowledge was an open invitation to begin rambling about her studies. She endured over an hour of detailed information on prothean civilization when Liara started on the topic of beacons.

"It's why I'm so interested in Commander Shepard," Liara went on, her face flushing again, "His mind has been touched by an actual, working prothean artifact! Oh, what he has seen...If only he had let me, I could probably help him sort out the information—"

"Oh, sorry to interrupt," Lucy said, pushing herself to her feet, looking for any excuse to escape, "I, er...Need to report to the cargo bay. My shift of Mako maintenance should be starting soon."

"Oh, yes," Liara looked down to her empty tray and the data-pad, then around the room and noticed people were starting to come around more. She mentioned something about research, then grabbed her data-pad and disappeared into the med bay. Lucy watched her go, then instead of heading to the cargo bay, went to get herself some breakfast.

 **xxxxx**

Lucy had to admit, she was becoming comfortable in the routines of the Normandy. Spending days working on the mako or down in engineering, meals spent with her new friends—whether it be Addy and her group, or Garrus and Tali—and studying the Galaxy Map in the C.I.C. while chatting with Navigator Pressly. She often spent evenings playing cards with the crew or chatting with Joker up in the cockpit, though most of these visits also included Kaidan when he was co-piloting.

Someone else Lucy noticed was often roaming the Normandy was Commander Shepard. It was incredibly common to see him chatting with the crew or sharing stories with the non-human members. He was often down in the cargo bay, talking with Wrex or interrupting Garrus and Lucy's work. If there was one thing Lucy had learned, it was that Shepard lost his air of intimidation the second you got to know him. He was one of the biggest dorks Lucy had ever met, often trying to convince her or Garrus to start playing Galaxy of Fantasy. Lucy always made sure she was too busy to talk when this happened.

One person Lucy never saw around was Liara. It seemed the asari was determined to avoid all the crew. Lucy had no idea when the woman was eating—maybe she had a hidden stash in her room off the med bay, or she was eating during the dark hours of the ship. Lucy didn't mind. She wasn't looking forward to another prothean lecture or how Liara fangirled over Shepard.

Lucy's favorite place had become the C.I.C. She enjoyed chatting with the crew there and loved studying the galaxy map. There was something very relaxing about watching the swirling systems of the holographic images. And every time Lucy came by, she was always greeted by Navigator Pressly with a smile and a teasing joke.

"Back again?" the X.O. asked as Lucy came up the stairway, Drake at her heels, "Haven't you had enough yet?"

"What can I say? You're perfect company," Lucy teased, coming over to his terminal, "Any news today?"

"Amy lost another tooth," Pressly said, "Charity says she's looking forward to another tooth fairy visit."

"And C.J.?" Lucy asked. She loved hearing Pressly talk about his wife and kids. It was obvious he was proud of all of them, and missed them. Lucy knew how hard it was having Alliance in the family and being the one who was often away from home for months at a time.

"Broke up with his girlfriend," Pressly gave a sigh, shaking his head, "He's in that stage of 'she was my soulmate, I'll never love anyone ever again'."

"Chocolate and ice cream helps," Lucy said, "I think my sister pretty much lived on the stuff after her first breakup."

"I take it you did too."

"Nah, I was more a peanut butter girl."

Pressly gave a laugh, shaking his head again. Lucy spent the next several hours with him, talking while she studied the galaxy map again. It was a great place to clear her head and the company was always enjoyable, especially when Hadad and Carr joined in. They spent most of the evening talking about old flames in honor of Pressly's son experiencing his first breakup.

"I once had a boyfriend with this weird obsession with silverware," Carr was saying after several stories, "Not antique, mind you. I mean just silverware in general. He kept stealing it from restaurants we visited. Even the shitty disposable kind at the cheap ones."

"Oh, I've got that beat," Lucy countered, stretching after sitting under the galaxy map for so long, "I have an ex who thought an appropriate romantic anniversary date was peanut butter sandwiches and the goriest zombie vid you can imagine."

"I thought you were a peanut butter girl," Hadad said with a smirk.

"Not when it comes to romantic dinners," Lucy retorted, rolling her eyes, "Speaking of food, I'm going to go grab a couple of protein bars and go chat with Joker."

"Yeah, sure, abandon us for the pilot," Carr made a point to give an overdramatic sigh.

"He's better company than you," Lucy quipped, heading for the stairs as Hadad made a choking sort of noise. Lucy rolled her eyes, going to the mess hall and grabbing the protein bars before heading back up the stairs. Of course, both Carr and Hadad were smirking now as Lucy went by and she responded with a common hand gesture. What was so interesting about the fact she liked to talk to Joker?

Lucy passed Addy along the way and the woman glanced up from her weapons control terminal long enough to give Lucy a quick grin and nod in greeting. Lucy grinned back, heading on by and finding Joker alone in the cockpit this time. The way Lucy preferred it. She had nothing against Kaidan, but she preferred the one-on-one time with the pilot.

"Hungry?" Lucy asked, tossing Joker one of the protein bars before taking the co-pilot seat.

"What, this is it?" Joker held up the small bar, raising an eyebrow.

"You want real food, you shouldn't be on an Alliance ship."

"Fair point."

Lucy grinned, breaking open her protein bar and biting into it.

"Man, I miss real food," she said, "I can't wait to get to the Citadel. Plus, I need a new omni-tool."

"With your track record, you should probably pick up a dozen," Joker commented. Lucy rolled her eyes, even though she was going to pick up a back-up as well. No point in telling Joker that, though.

"What're you going to do with your time off?" she asked, leaning forward in her chair, "Visit family?"

"Nah," Joker shook his head, "My family's on Tiptree."

"They moved out to the colonies after your mother died?" Lucy asked. Joker nodded, biting into his bar. "Then what're you going to do? Stay here on the ship?"

"Someone's gotta make sure the engineers don't steal someone's underwear," Joker replied, "Your type's like that."

"Nah, we're most likely to space smart-ass pilots."

"Like you'd space me. I'm too talented."

"It's tempting."

Joker snorted, shaking his head.

"But seriously, I'll probably just hit a couple of bars, get some real food while I can."

"Alone?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow, "I could show you around where I grew up."

"Nah, bars are fine," Joker said, looking towards Lucy, "Hoping I won't go alone, though."

"I'm sure Kaidan would go," Lucy relied, "You two are so close, after all."

Joker rolled his eyes, though he was giving Lucy an odd look. She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what was going on in his head. Drake let out a warning sort of whir and Lucy glared at him. What was his problem?

"So, your sister's going to be home, right?" Joker asked.

"Yep," Lucy leaned back in the chair, staring out the viewpoint nearby, "She just finished with her last tour, officially discharged and has a job lined up at a clinic in Zakera Ward." Lucy glanced over a Joker. "Why so curious about my family? You sure you don't want me to show you around my neck of the woods?"

Joker suddenly choked on his food and Lucy leaned over, thumping him on his back.

"You're not supposed to inhale it," she said.

"Yeah, well," Joker managed between coughs, "You need to watch how you say things."

"What?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow, "What abo—" Lucy cut off, feeling her face begin to burn as she pulled away from Joker and buried her face in her hands and groaned. "You have a dirty mind, Moreau."

"You're the one who left yourself open to that," Joker commented, a far too satisfied tone to his voice.

"That doesn't give you permission to barge—" Lucy cut herself off as Joker laughed, "I'm just going to shut up now."

"Smart move."

Lucy glanced over to Joker between her fingers. He had his attention back on his work, but he was grinning to himself. Lucy couldn't help but just watch him work despite the fact she'd already embarrassed herself enough for the day. She'd always felt drawn to Joker, but she could never really figure out why. Sure, he was charming in his own way...

Lucy stopped as that thought crossed her mind. Joker, charming? He wasn't exactly the type Lucy usually went for. They were usually engineers like herself. Someone she could talk shop with. Yet here she was, finding this pilot incredibly charming and looking for any excuse to come talk to him. Looking back, she had to admit it was pretty obvious what was going on. No wonder the others always teased her about her friendship with Joker.

"Take a holo," Joker suddenly cut into Lucy's thoughts, "It'll last longer."

Lucy couldn't help but laugh at that, no matter how overused it was. She leaned on the edge of her chair, smirking at Joker. This was what she was drawn to. The humor she could so easily bounce off of.

"Well, you'd probably break the camera," she retorted, "When will we reach the Citadel?"

"At around six hundred hours," Joker said, "Planning to be up early and watch?"

"Yep," Lucy stretched as she got up, "I should go give Drake a quick check-up before heading to bed. By the way, that offer for drinks open to anyone?"

Drake gave a disapproving click and Lucy resisted the urge to kick him. She had to ask before she lost her nerve.

"What?" Joker asked, looking over to Lucy with an odd expression she couldn't quite read.

"You said you'd be open to anyone joining you for drinks," Lucy said, hoping she didn't sound like some loser trying to ask her crush out on a date—even though that was kind-of what she was doing. "That open to anyone?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Joker said, "You volunteering?"

"Yeah, why not?" Lucy replied with a grin, "I'm going to check in with home first, though. How about Dark Star Lounge at eight? Know where it is?"

"Yeah, sure," Joker said, "Sounds good."

"Then it's a date," the words were out of Lucy's mouth before she could stop them and she felt her face grow warm, but she was relieved to see Joker grin at her. So it really was a date. Good. Lucy grinned back, turning and heading off through the ship as Drake let off a long series of beeps and whirs, obviously unapproving.

"Oh, stop it," Lucy said, "I'm allowed to date, you know."

Drake didn't seem to agree. He kept up his line of disapproving whines all the way to the crew quarters where Lucy finally forced her mech into power-down mode. Lucy hated doing this to Drake, but he was going to be preventing people from getting sleep. Besides, Lucy would have had to do this in the morning anyway. With no omni-tool, Lucy wouldn't have any access to her omni-tool, which meant no access to her permits to have a mech. She would have had to leave Drake on the Normandy and she knew he wouldn't make things easy on anyone while she was gone. It would be best if he were powered down until she got back.

The following morning, Lucy made sure she was awake early. She glanced at Drake, still powered down at the foot of her bed, and frowned. She was going to make sure to give him a good overhaul and upgrade to make up for this. After getting dressed, she pulled on her leather jacket before heading off across the ship. It was time to go home.


	11. Chapter Ten

**_Citadel Break_**

Lucy always felt at home at C-Sec. She was already grinning as she made her way across the open central lobby, passing a couple of officers escorting a disheveled-looking red-haired woman in handcuffs who seemed way too pleased with whatever she had done to get arrested.

Lucy knew her mother was at work today and she wanted to let her know she was back. It was a short trip up the stairs to a hallway of offices and Lucy found the door to her mother's already open.

Fiona Wendell was dark-skinned like her daughter and ad the same hazel eyes, though her hair—cut short so it fell around her face all the time—was as black as it could be. Fiona was running a hand over her tired face as Lucy knocked on the doorframe. The woman looked up, then grinned brightly.

"Lucy!" she said, hurrying around the desk and pulling Lucy into a tight hug, "I didn't know you'd come in already!"

"Just made it through clearance," Lucy said with her own grin, motioning to the duffle bag hanging off her shoulder, "And I'm heading out again day after tomorrow."

"Daniel told me you had a new job," Fiona said, "But he didn't say you'd be leaving immediately. Don't you think you should rest after what you went through on Feros?"

Lucy frowned as she sat down in one of the chairs in front of her mother's desk. She couldn't give her family details on what she was doing over the extranet—or at all, truthfully—given the classified nature of Shepard's mission. All she'd been able to say was that she was safe, had left Feros, and now had a new job lined up.

Fiona raised an eyebrow at Lucy. She knew well enough from her own investigations that some things couldn't be talked about, yet she was also the type who had to root out a secret when it was in front of her. It's what made her a good officer.

"I can tell you that I'm working with a Spectre," Lucy said, "Commander Shepard. He saved me on Feros, and his mission is very important. I want to help with it."

"Commander Shepard?" Fiona asked slowly, "That biotic that saved Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz?"

Lucy thought that Shepard relied far more on his tech skills than biotics—especially given the fact she hadn't realized he was biotic until a week after she joined the Normandy, when Kaidan had mentioned it—but she decided not to point that out.

"Yeah, that's him," Lucy said instead, "He's on a mission for the Council and I offered to help."

"What kind of mission needs a freelance engineer?" Fiona asked, leaning forward on her desk, "Wouldn't he already have Alliance engineers to rely on?"

Lucy knew what her mother was doing. She could recognize the look on her face right now. She was in 'interrogation mode'. Lucy had been on the receiving end of that look more times than she could count when she was younger and got caught sneaking into the apartment after curfew. Or came come from school with a black eye because she'd gotten into a fight.

"He's taking all the help he can get," Lucy said evenly. She knew she couldn't talk much about what they were actually doing, and she knew her mother understood it even if she didn't like it. "I'll make sure to check in often so you'll know I'm okay, but I won't be able to talk about anything."

Fiona sighed, though she grinned at her daughter.

"Fine, I get the point," she said, "Do you like it? The job, I mean. Are you getting along with the crew?"

It was Lucy's turn to sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. Every time Lucy was heading off to a new job, her mother treated her like a child leaving for summer camp.

"Everyone's great, mom," she said, "Don't worry about me."

"Can't help it. You're my daughter and often light years away from home."

"And I'm fine," Lucy replied, "And really eager for some real food, so—"

"Then let's go," Fiona rose to her feet, "I have a break coming up anyway."

Lucy was about to agree, but the terminal on her mother's desk began beeping. Fiona shook her head, checking the message and giving a slow sigh.

"Looks like we won't get lunch," she said, "A woman with a gun is causing problems near an Alliance ship in the docks. See you tonight?"

"Actually...I have a date," Lucy said slowly, "And I have a lot of errands today, but I'll be there all day tomorrow."

"Good," Fiona said, putting her gun in the holster at her hip as she started towards the door, "I look forward to hearing about this mystery man."

Lucy rolled her eyes but left after her mother, heading out of C-Sec. She wanted to go straight to a restaurant or call her sister, but there was a huge problem with that: no omni-tool. Lucy sighed, making her way towards a familiar market.

 **xxxxx**

Two hours later, Lucy was walking into the small, two-bedroom apartment she shared with her sister. Daphne was home, lying across the couch in a baggy shirt and sweatpants. She looked up at the sound of the door closing and grinned brightly, sitting up, her dark eyes twinkling as strands of her brown hair fell over her face.

"You're home!" Daphne said cheerfully, "I know you told us you got off Feros, but it's so great to see you! Why haven't you been replying to my messages? You just suddenly went dark and I had no idea what was going on with you."

Lucy grinned brightly as she hugged her sister. When she finally got a chance to check her messages on her new omni-tool, she was sure there would be far too many from her sister. Daphne loved to talk, share every detail about her day-to-day life, and tended to over-react.

"It's a long story," Lucy said, "How about I tell you over a late lunch? Then we can do our customary shopping trip."

"That means getting dressed," Daphne said with a pout.

"You've got time, I need a real shower," Lucy said, "The ones on the ship are crap."

"I know how that is," Daphne said, "Go ahead and drop off your stuff. Where's Drake?"

"Back on the ship," Lucy replied as she started for her room, "Part of the long story."

"Then hurry up with your shower so we can talk!"

Lucy rolled her eyes, dropping off her bag in her room and getting a fresh, clean set of clothes that hadn't been stuffed into a duffel for the past several months, then made her way to the bathroom.

An hour later, Lucy finally immerged into the living room of the apartment, cleaner than she had ever been on Feros. Lucy really loved the challenges of working on remote colonies, but she had to admit, they were horribly out-of-date with the best hygiene care.

"About time, sis," Daphne said impatiently. She had changed out of 'lazy clothes' and was now wearing jeans and a sweater, waiting in the small kitchenette. "I'm starving."

"Sorry, the hot water was too good," Lucy laughed, "How about we hit our favorite pizza place?"

"Perfect," Daphne locked an arm around Lucy's and led her from the apartment, "You can tell me all you can about what you've been up do while we eat."

Once they were settled at a table of a pizza shop with a pepperoni, sausage, and pepper pizza between them, Lucy went into her story. At least, as much as she was able to tell given how much was confidential.

Daphne, much to her credit, actually remained silent while Lucy told her story. Daphne was usually incredibly chatty, so the fact that she listened in silence was a rare thing. When Lucy finished, their pizza was gone and Daphne let out a low whistle as she pushed aside her empty plate.

"You've had an interesting month," she said, "Too bad you just missed Steve. I bet he would have a lot to say about you using a rover as a battering ram."

Lucy hadn't really been able to talk about the geth, but was still proud of her driving on Therum so she had tweaked the story a little, replacing geth with mercenary mechs and small gunships.

"Steve was here?" Lucy asked, leaning on the table, "When?"

"About a week ago. He's been stationed on a remote colony, Ferris Fields, and he and Robert were here for a couple of days while waiting on a ship to take them out there."

Lucy gave a sigh.

"Shame I missed him," she said. She enjoyed getting to catch up with Steve when she could. She was going to have to make sure to send him a message when she finally checked up on her mail later. "But what about you? How have you been?"

"Oh, it was about the same," Daphne gave a shrug, "Looking forward to being a regular civilian again. The clinic I'm working at is great and the people are all really nice. There's actually a drell there, Dr. Draut. She's really fun and did you know they can perfectly remember nearly every moment in their lives? Must make being a doctor so much easier when you can just perfectly recall everything you've read. Of course, she seems to go into this weird trance when it happens so she has to be careful going into surgeries, but she's one of the best there. Then there's Dr. Gazzi, he's a salarian..."

Lucy grinned, paying for their meal and the two made their way out to do some shopping as Daphne continued to tell every little detail about her time away from home. Once Daphne got started, it often was hours before she would stop. Lucy was fine with that, enjoying going from store to store as she let her sister ramble on about the clinic she now worked at and all the gossip she had about all her new co-workers. It was nice getting to relax after the last few weeks she'd had, especially knowing she'd be back out there very shortly. Today was a break. Tomorrow, she'd pack up and spend the day with her parents. Then it would be back to chasing down a rogue Spectre. Lucy needed to take the down time when she could.

Several hours and three stores later, Daphne's story finally came to an end as they were heading into a clothing store. Unfortunately, that was because she decided to switch topics to Lucy's date that night.

"Maybe you can get yourself a new outfit, just for tonight," Daphne said, "You still haven't told me who this guy is, though."

"I thought I did?" Lucy glanced to her sister, "He's part of the Normandy crew. The pilot, actually."

"That guy with the beard from the vid about the Normandy?" Daphne asked, "The one with the big ego?"

Lucy gave a shrug, pulling out a long-sleeved shirt with a cut-out design along the sleeves. She thought it over, imagining how it might look on her, then decided to put it back on the rack.

"He's earned that right to brag," she said, "He's a hell of a pilot."

"Yeah, yeah," Daphne rolled her eyes, "Still full of himself."

"I'll give you that one."

"And you're still going on a date with him?" Daphne asked as she studied a cute, dark pink dress and held it up against her, looking down to get an idea of how it might look on her.

"He's honestly not that bad," Lucy laughed, picking out a one-sleeved top with a nice pattern along the upper hem, "And he's really funny. You'd like him."

"Not my type," Daphne said, "Where are you two going?"

"Dark Star Lounge," Lucy replied, "Get some drinks and relax."

"Until you drag him to the dance floor."

Lucy laughed, shaking her head. She loved dancing, that was for sure. It was one of her favorite ways to cut loose and relax, no matter how big of a fool she made of herself.

"Joker's not much of a dancer," Lucy said. Daphne stared at her with an expression as if Lucy just said she was going to shave her head.

"Seriously?" she asked in complete disbelief, "You, not dancing?"

"It's...complicated," Lucy said slowly, grabbing the long sleeved shirt and moving towards a mirror. She wasn't sure if Joker would want her talking about his disease to her sister. "But he's a fun guy, sis. I like him."

"Fine, fine," Daphne gave a sigh, "Just be careful. Fraternization on a mission can lead to trouble."

Lucy—who was moving the two shirts back and forth in front of her to compare them in her reflection—raised an eyebrow at her sister behind her.

"I'm not Alliance," she said.

"But you're still on a mission with this guy," Daphne responded. Lucy frowned, turning fully to her sister.

"Something on your mind?" she asked.

"I just want to make sure you know the risks in dating another crew member," Daphne said simply.

"I'm fine, Daph," Lucy said, "You don't have to worry about me."

"Just be careful, okay?"

"I always am!" Lucy protested. Daphne raised an eyebrow at her sister disbelievingly.

"You blew up two omni-tools," she said.

"I didn't have much choice!" Lucy defended, then paused as she decided on the long-sleeved shirt, putting the other back, "Maybe I should invest in some grenades."

" _Please_ tell me you're joking."

Lucy shook her head, going through a rack of skirts without really looking at them.

"Twice now I've ended up in a situation where I've needed a good distraction," she said, "Usually it means making something explode. Grenades work better, not to mention are cheaper, than omni-tools."

Daphne sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers.

"How did I end up with such a destructive sister?" she asked.

"Just lucky, I guess."

In the end, Lucy decided on the long-sleeved shirt and a nice skirt and tights to match—she had a great pair of boots at home to go with it already. Maybe she'd take Daphne's advice and wear it on her date with Joker that night. After Daphne finally decided on a nice green dress, the two left the clothing store and started for their next stop. They left the topic of the Normandy behind, instead reminiscing about their childhood days and sharing jokes about embarrassing things the other had done.

Soon, however, they were back at their small apartment and Lucy needed to get ready for her date. She did decide to wear her new outfit, leaving her hair down around her shoulders and grabbing her bag as she left her room.

"I'll be back later, Daph," Lucy said as she started for the door, "We're just getting a few drinks."

"Don't stay out too late," Daphne called after her.

Lucy rolled her eyes, making her way towards a public transit terminal and hailing a cab. It was a short trip to the Zakera Ward and Lucy was soon walking along the street towards the Dark Star.

This lounge was exactly the type of place that Lucy loved: energetic, great food and drinks, and amazing music. Plus, she wasn't banned from here like she was at Flux—though she found Flux to be a bit boring anyway.

Joker was already there, sitting at a table a bit away from the dance floor. He looked quite different outside of the military fatigues—wearing a pair of jeans and long-sleeved shirt(and, of course, a ball cap)—but he still looked nice. Lucy grinned as she headed over, finding herself pleased with the way Joker was looking her over.

"You picked a good table, Jeff," Lucy said as she sat down across from him. Joker raised an eyebrow at her.

"Jeff?" he echoed.

"Yeah, thought I'd try it out," Lucy said with a shrug, "Rather I stick to Joker?"

"Nah, it's fine," Joker said, "So, you got any suggestions on what to eat? Haven't been to this bar before."

"This place has some killer steak sandwiches," Lucy said, "I can go order."

"Sounds good. I'll pay, though."

Lucy laughed. "Such a gentleman."

She went to get their food and a couple of beers, then returned to the table where Joker was adjusting the cap on his head. He grinned as Lucy sat back down.

"Great," he said, pulling his plate over.

"So, you seriously always wear that hat?" Lucy asked.

"Thought we went through this?" Joker responded, "It's lucky."

"So you never don't wear it?"

"Only when I'm asleep," Joker said with a shrug.

"Sorry Jeff," Lucy said, taking a swig of her beer, "I've seen you asleep in that cockpit. You still wear it."

"I meant in a bed."

"You mean you don't want to get lucky in bed?" Lucy asked with a satisfied smirk as Joker choked on his beer. Revenge for all his merciless teasing was oh-so-sweet.

"You've been practicing to catch me on that," Joker realized, glaring a little. Lucy just grinned sweetly.

"I might have," she said.

"You're evil," Joker said, then grinned, "I like it."

Lucy laughed, grinning back at Joker.

"Seems like we're a good match," she said.

There was a yell and the sound of breaking glass nearby. Lucy and Joker both looked up to see a turian bartender trying to break up a fight between a salarian and asari who were apparently having a drunken argument. Several people only looked up briefly before turning back to their drinks and Lucy rolled her eyes, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"No matter how classy a place tries to be," she said, "You get a bunch of drunks together and problems start."

"You're one to talk from what I've heard," Joker said, smirking over his own sandwich.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that I might have overheard a story about how you got yourself banned from Flux."

Lucy groaned, putting a hand over her warming face.

"I'm going to kill Garrus," she said.

"Wasn't Garrus," Joker replied, "Story's been going around the Normandy for weeks now."

Lucy groaned again, shaking her head. Though it made sense that Garrus didn't share the story considering he was the person who she had punched.

"Is it true you punched a C-Sec officer?" Joker asked, obviously relishing in Lucy's embarrassment.

"Yes," Lucy sighed, "Luckily, Garrus is pretty forgiving."

"He might have a pole up his ass, but I doubt he'd told that against you."

"Well, I _did_ hit him hard enough that—"

"Wait, _Garrus_ is the officer you punched?"

Lucy stared at Joker in surprise.

"I thought you said the story had gotten around the Normandy?" she asked, "About how I got drunk and when Garrus was called in to clear me out, I punched him?"

"There _is_ a story," Joker replied, "But just that you punched 'some C-Sec officer'. Nothing about it actually being Garrus." Joker looked like a kid who'd just gotten Christmas presents early. "Oh, he is going to _hate_ when this gets around!"

Lucy grinned a little. At least there was one good thing out of this. Messing with Garrus' reputation made the embarrassment worth it. Lucy took a swig of her beer again, though just as she was bringing the drink to her mouth, something large crashed into the table between her and Joker, sending beer and steak sandwich components flying and throwing Lucy and Joker both to the floor from a biotic blast.

As Lucy pushed herself up, picking bits of steak and cheese off her new shirt, she realized what had crashed into the table was actually a _who_. The salarian that had been arguing with the asari. Apparently, he lost the argument. Joker groaned nearby and Lucy glared at the asari, getting to her feet.

"Hey, people are eating here!" Lucy snapped.

The asari turned to Lucy as the Salarian started to get up behind her.

"What's it to you?" the asari asked, stepping forward, but the bartender grabbed her arm.

"That's enough," he ordered, "I want you out of my club. Now."

"What about her attacking me?" the salarian demanded, "I want that bitch arrested!"

"Bitch?" the asari screamed, "I'll kill you!"

She pulled free of the turian's grasp and charged. Unfortunately, Lucy was still between the asari and salarian and didn't get a chance to get out of the way. She was knocked aside, flailing backwards and hitting her head on a nearby table, much to the displeasure of the two turians drinking there. Lucy groaned as she pushed herself up, glaring towards the asari.

"That's it," she muttered, "Now it's personal."

* * *

 **A/N:** The red-haired woman mentioned at the beginning is a cameo of Charlie from _The_ _Barracuda: Allegiances_ , which belongs to my friend, Chellendora.


	12. Chapter Eleven

**A/N:** I now have a twitter! (WriterKrisPilar) I welcome anyone who follows me or my stories here to follow me there as well. I'll often post updates on my writing progress or when unexpected delays come up.

* * *

 _ **Consequence**_

"Well, not exactly a normal first date but it was definitely memorable."

Lucy laughed, though winced as the doctor dabbed at a cut on her face with a small alcohol pad. All the great medical advances and doctors still felt little cloths that stung like hell were the best way to clean a small wound. Lucy had been worried about Joker after the crash to the floor but he seemed to get off lucky. The worst had been a fractured wrist. He'd have a small brace but otherwise would still be able to work. Other than a few cuts and bruised from the fall, he was fine.

"Never had someone get involved in a bar fight on your dates, huh?" Lucy asked.

"Nope, you're the first," Joker replied with a smirk.

"I'm so glad you two find this so amusing."

Lucy winced—this time not from the antiseptic—and glanced to where her mother was standing in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest. Out of all the C-Sec officers on the Citadel, Lucy's mother had been the one to take the call for the bar fight at Dark Star Lounge. Nothing was more embarrassing than being arrested by your own mother, especially during your first date.

"You haven't even been back on the Citadel a day and you're already causing trouble?" Fiona asked sharply.

"What about that asari?" Lucy asked, "She tore up half the lounge!"

"And she is now sitting in a cell back at C-Sec," Fiona replied.

Lucy winced again as the doctor applied a bandage over her cut. Her mother kept her arms crossed over her chest, glaring between Lucy and Joker. Joker, to his credit, was keeping quiet. This wasn't exactly the best way to introduce a boyfriend to the parents. Lucy didn't think things could get worse but she was very wrong. Just as she and Joker were cleared to leave the clinic, the doors opened and Commander Shepard came in, looking far too amused. Joker groaned beside Lucy.

"So I save you from Feros," Shepard said, "And you repay me by getting my pilot into a bar fight?"

Lucy sighed. First the omni-tools, now the bar fight. It seemed her life was going to become a never-ending supply of 'never-live-this-down'. She straightened herself up some as Fiona raised an eyebrow at Commander Shepard.

"You're the Spectre my daughter is working for?" she asked in a tone of disbelief. Shepard grinned at her, though stood straight and gave her a respectful nod.

"Yes ma'am," she said, "Your daughter has been proving to be a valuable member of the crew. She saved our lives on Therum."

Lucy had gotten so used to Shepard's open, laid-back attitude on the Normandy that it was a bit odd to see him so formal now.

"Well, did she get a head injury?" Fiona asked, "That would explain why she acted so idiotically at the Dark Star."

Lucy felt like a child, sitting awkwardly between a parent and teacher as they talked about what trouble she'd been causing at school. Only in this bizarre universe, the 'teacher' was her mother and the 'parent' was her employer. That just seemed to make it worse. Lucy glanced to Joker who had seemed to become very interested in the brace around his left wrist.

"I will take full responsibility for what happened," Shepard said to Fiona, "And make sure any damage to the lounge is paid for."

"Guess I'll be saying goodbye to my paycheck for the next year," Joker said casually. Lucy felt a little relieved that Joker wasn't keeping quiet anymore. Maybe he finally couldn't keep it in any longer.

"And these two will be confined to the ship for the remainder of the shore leave."

"What?" Lucy straightened slightly. She had a family dinner tomorrow night. She'd be seeing her father for the first time in months. She couldn't just cancel that.

"With all due respect, Commander Shepard," Fiona said, stepping forward, "Lucy has plans for tomorrow and she is not a member of the Alliance—"

"But she is a member of my crew," Shepard cut in, "And that makes her under my command."

Lucy frowned, looking to Joker again. He didn't look happy but had gone back to being silent. Fiona was giving Shepard a hard look, clearly not happy with this herself. Lucy felt jilted, of anything. It had been that damn asari's fault. She had been the one who started everything.

"Joker, report back to the Normandy ASAP," Shepard said in a stern tone, then turned towards Lucy, "I want you there by twenty-four hundred. That should give you enough time to pack what you need for long-term space travel."

Shepard gave Fiona another nod before heading out of the clinic. Joker was cursing under his breath as Fiona turned towards them.

"Well," she said sourly, "I hope this isn't a sign of how your relationship will be."

"Mom, I can handle myself," Lucy said sharply, though she felt her face warm slightly.

"This," Fiona motioned to the bandage over Lucy's eye and the bruises that were already forming, "Says otherwise." Fiona paused, giving a sigh and pinching the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes. "You'd better go pack. I'll explain things to Sam. Try to take care of yourself, Lucy."

Fiona turned and left with that Lucy sighed, then felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over to see Joker next to her.

"Look on the bright side," he said but Lucy cut him off.

"If you say we're in this together," she warned, "I'll break your other wrist."

"Now is that any way to treat your boyfriend?" Joker teased. Lucy rolled her eyes but Joker had succeeded in making her grin. She'd been worried this misstep might have made Joker rethink things. It seemed he was still willing to give it a chance, thankfully.

"I should go pack, though," she said, "And break the news to Daphne. See you on the ship?"

"Sure."

Lucy started for the door but at the last second, turned and gave Joker a quick kiss on the cheek. She couldn't help but grin as the beard tickled her face.

"Thanks for a memorable first date," she said, then turned and headed out of the clinic.

Lucy took the first skycab she could back to the apartment she shared with her sister. She sighed, hesitating at the door. She was not looking forward to explaining things to Daphne—especially after Daphne seemed so reluctant about Lucy going on a date with someone she worked with. Lucy didn't want Daphne starting on that again. She couldn't stand out here all day, however. Taking a deep breath, Lucy headed into the apartment.

Daphne was on the couch again, back in her sweatpants and a loose tee. She looked up as Lucy closed the door behind her.

"You're back earlier than I expected," Daphne said as she sat up, "How did—what in the world happened?"

Lucy had pulled off her coat and it was clear her sister had seen the food stains on Lucy's clothes—plus the forming bruises and the bandaged cut on her face. Lucy gave her sister an awkward grin.

"Got in a bit of a fight at the Dark Star," she said, "Long story short, I've got to pack quickly and return to the Normandy."

"You got into a bar fight on your date?" Daphne asked in disbelief.

"It wasn't my fault!" Lucy raised her hands in defense, "There was this drunk asari who knocked over our table—"

"Lucy, are you ever going to grow up?"

Lucy stared at her sister, taken aback. Daphne was staring at her, eyes narrowed and arms crossed over her chest. When Daphne was like this, it was easy to see the military training she'd had. She never looked it, but the soldier side of Daphne came out when she was angry.

"What're you talking about?" Lucy asked slowly.

"' _It wasn't my fault'_ ," Daphne mimicked, rolling her eyes, "You weren't forced to fight."

"But—"

"Don't make excuses," Daphne cut in sharply, "It was your choice to get into that fight."

"My choice?" Lucy's voice rose as she gripped her hands at her side, "What was I supposed to do? Ignore the asari destroying the lounge?"

"You should have let the bartender handle it!" Daphne raised her voice to match her sister's, "You were on a date! I can't imagine what the Flight Lieutenant thought."

"He thought it was pretty funny, actually."

Daphne fell quiet, glaring at Lucy.

"You better go pack," she said coolly, "You need to report to the Normandy."

Daphne turned and marched to her room and Lucy was sure if the door wasn't electronic, it would have been slammed shut behind her. Lucy flinched, staring at the closed door. Daphne rarely got angry. Was this because Lucy's shore leave had been cut short? It wasn't like Daphne hadn't had to miss family get-togethers in the name of duty.

' _She didn't get herself on ship lockdown,'_ Lucy told herself. A jab of guilt started to worm through her, but she tried to ignore it. She had to go pack.

Lucy sighed, heading towards her room. Packing for space travel was different than packing for colony life. There was a lot less space and a lot less bringing personal objects to make things homey. It was hard to justify bringing along a favorite bath set or bedding when those were provided by the ship. Or a trunk full of holos or knickknacks to decorate your temporary space.

Lucy's clothes and duffle bag had been cleaned while she was gone. It looked as if the trunk with her other valuables from Feros hadn't arrived yet. She had thought with the delays the Normandy had, it would have been here before her. Lucy sighed, changing out of her ruined outfit and into jeans and a tank top, then packed away enough clothes to last her between laundry days on the Normandy. Or to avoid laundry day as long as she could. And a few holos of her family to tape to the wall of her bunk. She had to make it just a _little_ homey, after all.

After packing her clothes, she went back to the kitchen for her favorite thermos. She started looking for her personal datapad but couldn't find it on the coffee table where she'd left it when she came home earlier. Lucy frowned, starting to look under the table in case it fell when the door to Daphne's room opened again. Lucy's older sister came out, but she still had a sour expression on her face.

"Here," she said stiffly, holding out a familiar datapad, "I made sure do download all those dramas you like to watch."

Lucy took the datapad, feeling awkward. She knew Daphne was trying to make sure things were good when Lucky left, despite the fact that Daphne was clearly still angry with her.

"You're a life-saver," Lucy said with a weak grin, "I'll stay in contact this time. No more exploding omni-tools."

Daphne didn't smile. She just gave Lucy a small nod.

"Take care of yourself," She said, "And maybe next time you'll be he—" Daphne's voice was hardening, but she cut herself off and took a deep breath. "Be here when Steve's around."

"I'll be careful," Lucy promised, "You take care of yourself too."

"I'm not the one working with a Spectre," Daphne retorted, "You should get going."

"Yeah..." Lucy sighed, swinging her duffle bag over her shoulder. "I'll keep in touch."

Lucy didn't move, staring at her sister. She tried to think of something to say, some way to apologize for what had happened. She wasn't one good with words, however. Instead, Lucy gave her sister a parting smile and headed out of the apartment.

 **xxxxx**

Instead of heading straight for the docks, Lucy made a stop at a local market. If she was going to be stuck on a military ship with basic military rations, she was going to make sure she had some damn good coffee.

White chocolate mocha. The perfect drink to make life on the Normandy more bearable. Something to wake her up easier than that mud the mess hall tried to pass off as 'coffee'. She'd had enough of it after just a couple of weeks—that and she ran out of her stash while still on Feros.

Lucy bought enough to last her a couple of months (surely they'd dock somewhere for supplies before then) and finally made her way to the docks. There seemed to be more guards at the Normandy's docking port than there were that morning. When Lucy tried to ask, she was told there had been 'an incident' earlier. Whatever it was, it meant extra security checks for Lucy to go through. Then decontamination. All of it together meant a good half hour before she was finally aboard the Normandy.

The first thing she did was look to the cockpit to see if Joker was back. She didn't see him and wondered if he'd already gone to bed. It had been a long day and he had been given painkillers at the clinic.

Lucy decided she'd just talk to him tomorrow and headed down the stairs to the crew quarters. She found her bunk and stored away her duffle bag, looking to drake. He was still lying powered down on the bed and Lucy had a new wave of guilt.

"Sorry boy," Lucy whispered, patting the mech on the head, "I'll give you a good upgrade before waking you up. Hopefully you'll forgive me."

Lucy changed again, this time into loose pants and a tank top she preferred to wear when she was going to get her hands dirty. She doubted that her bunkmates would be too thrilled with her working on her mech in the middle of their quarters, so Lucy made sure her hair was in a tight bun, then lugged the eighty pounds of dead weight that was Drake down to the cargo bay. Most of her tools were down there anyway.

The cargo bay was empty of people. It seemed everyone was enjoying some time off on the Citadel—even Wrex. Lucy didn't want to know what a bloodthirsty krogan did for fun. She sighed and made her way to the mako where her tools were and settled down to begin working. She'd just hooked up her datapad—a different one from her personal, used solely for work—and popped open the control panel on Drake when a shadow fell over her. Lucy looked up, surprised to see Tali was there. It seemed that she had opted for a hoodie with a logo for Fleet and Flotilla and baggy pants over her suit today.

"Shouldn't you be enjoying some time on the Citadel?" Lucy asked. Tali gave a shrug.

"Quarian aren't exactly welcome," she said, "I didn't want to deal with the stares. I prefer a ship anyway. Why aren't you visiting your family?"

"I got into a bit of a fight," Lucy pointed to the bandage on her face, "Shepard put me on lockdown for the rest of shore leave."

Tali laughed, the faint glow of her eyes squinting with a smile Lucy couldn't see through the mask.

"I would have expected that of Wrex," she said, "Not you."

"...I don't know if I should be proud or offended."

"Both, maybe," Tali said, "So, giving your mech a work-over?"

"Yeah, he's been due an upgrade for a while," Lucy tapped the panel she had opened, "But there's never been much time or opportunity on Feros."

"Need some help?"

"I, er..." Lucy hesitated. She wasn't sure how many more times she could politely refuse Tali's help with Drake without her starting to get suspicious. "I prefer working on him myself. I mean, I built him up from junk. He's like a pet project."

More like a child to her, but that would be too much of a give-away. As Lucy watched Tali next to her, she found herself wishing she could see through the mask. It would be a lot easier if she could at least read the quarian's face.

"Would you at least like some company?" Tali asked after a moment. Lucy gave a mental sigh of relief.

"Sure," she said, "It's boring work. I'd love someone to talk to."

"I guess this gives me more time for my own project," Tali said, "Hold on, I'll be right back."

Tali headed off towards the engine room and Lucy booted up Drake's programming to get started. She was just getting going when Tali returned, sitting on the floor nearby and leaning against one of the mako's giant wheels. Lucy noticed she had a datapad in her hands.

"So, what's your project?" Lucy asked as she began to give Drake's mechanics a good cleaning. The poor mech was seriously overdue.

Tali seemed hesitant as she looked around the cargo bay. Once she noticed they were alone, she gave a small nod as if coming to a decision with herself.

"When we were on Feros," Tali said, turning back to Lucy, "After the Thorian was defeated, I was helping with clearing the geth terminals while you were packing and Shepard was talking to that asari. I found some files on one terminal that were heavily encrypted, so I downloaded them to a datapad before I cleared the terminal. I've been trying to figure it out."

"Trying to find something for your pilgrimage?"

"Yes," Tali said, "I'm hoping there's something in these files that will make this worth it."

"I hope you fine something," Lucy said, staring on a particularly stubborn clog of oil, "Especially something your father will be proud of."

Tali nodded slowly. She had told Lucy weeks ago about how she was expected to bring back more than others because her father was important in quarian politics. Lucy couldn't imagine the pressure. After all, her parents were average. A C-Sec officer and a dock worker. There was nothing about them that meant Lucy was under pressure to succeed.

"Have you found anything yet?" Lucy asked.

"A reference to the Armstrong Nebula," Tali said, "But I haven't fully broken the encryption yet. It could mean anything."

"If you want any help, I'm always here," Lucy said, though she felt a bit hypocritical about it after refusing to let Tali help with her own 'pet project'. "I've been curious about the geth."

"Thanks, I'd appreciate it," Tali said.

Despite the long day and how disastrous the evening had been, it ended on a good note. Tali and Lucy worked to the early hours of the morning, talking and sharing stories. Lucy was exhausted and as she crawled into her bunk after breakfast, she was very grateful there was still one more day of shore leave. Perfect for catching up on the sleep she'd missed and she was very eager for that sleep. Lucy was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.


	13. Chapter Twelve

_**Alive?**_

Lucy had never seen Earth before—as long as you discounted holos on the extranet or her school texts. She had grown up on the Citadel even though humanity had only been part of Citadel space for roughly thirty years. She had to admit, seeing the planet from space was an awe-inspiring sight. Lucy couldn't seem to look away from the viewpoint in the Normandy's cockpit as Joker pulled the ship into the orbit of Earth's moon.

"Shouldn't you be heading down to the mako?" Joker asked behind Lucy.

Lucy finally turned from the magnificent sight in front of her. Joker was smirking at Lucy as he set the Normandy to autopilot, drifting along the moon's orbit.

"Eager to be rid of me, Jeff?" she asked, "Gonna steal my datapad again?"

"Hey, you should have known better than to leave it lying around!"

"Yeah, yeah," Lucy rolled her eyes, "This time, my datapad is locked safely in the crew quarters."

"You ruin all my fun," Joker said with a pout.

"More like I don't want to have to clear off a bunch of porn again," Lucy leaned over, giving Joker a kiss on the cheek.

"But I really should get going," she continued, heading off towards the elevator.

"Have fun storming the castle!" Joker called after Lucy.

Lucy grinned, shaking her head a bit. When she reached the elevator, she found Drake waiting for her. He had indeed held a grudge against Lucy for the forced shut down. Even cleaning him up and doing an upgrade did little to placate the mech. He had spent most of the past couple of days completely ignoring Lucy but they had a mission to take care of now. He finally seemed willing to move on. Unfortunately, he had picked a very bad time.

"I can't take you this time, Drake," Lucy whispered as she knelt down to the mech, "We're taking on a rogue V.I. that's hacking Alliance combat drones. It's too dangerous to bring you."

Drake gave a low whine, his light turning blue. Lucy sighed, pulling him into the elevator since people in the C.I.C. were beginning to stare. They must have thought Lucy was insane, always talking to her mech.

"Don't pout," Lucy said, "You can't guilt trip me this time. You just can't come. It's not only my choice but Shepard's orders."

Drake's light turned from blue to a disapproving yellow and he gave off a series of clicks and whirrs.

"There's no need for that," Lucy said, "You're supposed to be a V.I., remember? You might have better anti-hacking than most, but everyone else on this ship doesn't know that. Taking you along will bring up too many questions."

The elevator doors opened and Lucy straightened up, heading for the lockers. Ashley, Kaidan, and Shepard were already in armor and waiting by the mako. Shepard smirked as Lucy pulled out the light armor she'd been assigned after their visit to the Citadel.

"Glad you finally joined us, Miss Wendell," he teased, "We'd be lost without our driver."

"More like you'd be dead in a ditch after you wrecked my mako," Lucy shot back. Kaidan snorted but Ashley glared at Lucy. She never seemed to like anyone saying anything against Shepard.

Lucy suited up, then met the others. They all climbed into the mako, Drake's light yellow as he stayed behind in the cargo bay. Lucy knew it was for the best, however. It would be too hard to explain how a 'simple V.I. FENRIS mech' could withstand advanced hacking tactics.

"Approaching drop zone," Joker's voice came over the intercom, "Did you remember to upload the base location into the system, Lucy?"

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Are you going to be one of those nagging boyfriends?" she asked, "If so, I'm not sure this relationship will work."

"When you two are done flirting," Kaidan cut in, "We have a job to do."

"Yes, yes," Lucy said, "Ready for the drop. Is the cargo bay clear?"

"Your pet mech caused some problems," Joker said, "But Garrus finally got it moving."

Lucy groaned. She was going to have a long talk with her mech when she got back.

"Noted," she said, booting up the mako's systems, "Well, we're strapped in and ready for drop off."

Lucy settled herself into the controls. The cargo bay doors opened as the Normandy flew low. Lucy had only done a drop a few times and it still made her nervous. Lucy punched the engine, sending the mako forward and out into the atmosphere of the moon. There was a slight jolt as the mass effect fields adjusted to the change in gravity, then hit the moon's surface. The vehicle gave a single bounce before it settled to a stop.

"Perfect landing!" Lucy said in mixed joy and relief.

"Don't get cocky down there," Joker said over the intercom.

"You're one to talk," Lucy retorted.

Lucy pulled up the guidance system, then started off across the moon's surface. She had grown used to driving the mako over several different terrains—and, in one instance, learning to avoid running over annoying space monkeys. The mako had become Lucy's baby(after Drake, of course).

"How far is the training base?" Ashley asked as Lucy kept her focus on driving.

"Not far," Lucy said, "Jeff actually dropped us off pretty close for once."

"Keep talking like that," Joker said, "And I won't pick you up again."

"Then you won't be getting any more of my coffee," Lucy retorted.

"Are you trying to bribe me, Miss Wendell?"

"Just making a comment."

"You two really can't help yourselves, can you?" Shepard asked.

"Sorry, Commander," Joker said. Lucy rolled her eyes, though she was grinning.

As Lucy had said, the training base was relatively close. It was only ten minutes before a large building came into view up ahead. As it did, however, one of the building's cannons let off a rocket. It slammed into the mako's shields before Lucy could react, causing the rover to rock slightly.

"Shit!" Lucy hissed.

"Keep your focus on driving," Shepard said, "I'll handle the guns."

Lucy nodded, glancing to the shield display. Eighty-three percent remaining. That first blast had caught them off guard. Lucy scrambled to switch herself to evasive tactics. As much as she loved her mako, the thing was incredibly slow. They had to rely heavily on the shields holding up. Charging straight at a building with anti-tank rockets wasn't a smart idea.

What would be the best way to approach the building? It was hard to concentrate when under fire. That was one thing Lucy hadn't gotten the hang of yet. As Lucy mulled over her options, a rocket slammed into the mako's shields again. Lucy cursed, working with the controls to try and get out of the rocket's range.

"Don't pull out!" Shepard ordered, "I'll lose the lock-on!"

Lucy flushed. She knew better than to stray too far. She had to stay in range for Shepard to fire. She was going to have to out-maneuver the rockets. At first, she tried to drive the mako in an arch at the edge of the rocket's range, just barely close enough for Shepard to lock on—though it still left them close enough to be hit. The V.I. seemed to learn quickly, however, and was soon firing ahead to the mako so the rocket would hit as the mako passed. Lucy had no idea what to do besides zig-zag around and hope the shields held.

"Shields at fifteen," Lucy said, trying to ignore the warning beeps the mako's computer was assaulting her ears with, "How's the gun going?"

"I think one more shot will take down that anti-tank rocket," Shepard said, "It's hard to keep a clear shot when we're moving."

Well, we're sitting ducks if we aren't," Lucy shot back.

"Why not bait it?" Ashley suggested.

"What?"

"Bait it," Ashley repeated, "Pull the mako to a stop and let it lock on—"

"Are you _insane_?" Lucy hissed as a rocket slammed into the mako. Shields were now at five, the computer warnings screeching now.

"It'll work!" Ashley called over the warnings, "While it's locking onto us, Shepard can lock on to the rockets! Once he fires, you can gun the engines and get the mako out of range of the rockets!"

"It could work..." Shepard said slowly.

"You're _all_ insane!" Lucy cried in disbelief.

"For the record," Kaidan said calmly, "I'm against this plan."

"Thanks," Lucy muttered. A rocket hit just feet from the mako, sending moon dust against the rover. Lucy heaved a sigh. There wasn't any other option and she knew it. Or at least, no time to come up with another option.

"All right, we've got one shot at this," she said, "Ready, Shepard?"

"As I can be," Shepard called back.

Lucy took a deep breath. Letting a rocket lock on was insane, but they definitely didn't have another choice. They had to take out the rocket launcher so they could approach the facility. It was Lucy's job to make that happen. This was going to take all of Lucy's concentration. And a lot of overcoming her own reflexes and common sense.

With a quick turn—or at least as quickly as the mako could manage—Lucy faced the rover towards the Alliance compound. Her heart was racing in her chest and she felt her hands shaking. She was not looking forward to this. She kept a close eye on the small holographic screen in front of her. New warnings began beeping, mixing in with the screech of the 'low shields' to tell Lucy that a rocket had locked onto the mako's position. Lucy counted to five, then quickly shifted the mako to reverse and shot backwards as Shepard let off a blast from the mako's secondary—and more powerful—cannon. Ashley was cursing loudly in the back and Lucy would have joined her if she wasn't so focused on getting the mako out of the rocket's range of fire.

Without warning, the mako tilted backwards, falling down a cliff at an alarming speed. Lucy let out a cry and tried to get control of the mako, pushing forward on the thrusters. Slowly, the mako began to climb upwards again until the mako pulled back onto level ground in front of the facility. Smoke rising from the remains of anti-tank cannons showed Shepard's rocket had hit its mark. The inside of the mako would have been silent if it weren't for Shepard's chuckling in the back.

"Exactly as planned," he said, "Going over that hill could have been smoother, though. You should have braced for it, Lucy."

"I...I should have..." Lucy managed slowly, her heart still racing and her hands trembling. Slowly, she turned in her seat towards Shepard. "I didn't even know it was there!"

"Then you should pay attention to your surroundings," Shepard replied, "That slope was the whole reason I gave you this plan. I knew we'd be safe once we went down."

Lucy stared at Shepard in disbelief. In all the chaos, how had he been able to realize they were at the edge of a hill, let alone think quickly enough to form a plan around it?

"You'll have to learn to assess everything around you, Lucy," Shepard said, "Even in battle. That's how you stay alive."

"We should get to the facility," Kaidan said, "The anti-tank might be down, but that V.I. might send drones if we don't hurry."

"R-right," Lucy said slowly. She shifted the mako's controls back to normal, then guided the mako back to the facility, letting the mako run its own self-diagnosis for damage as they went. By the time Lucy pulled the mako to a stop, the diagnosis was finished, giving Lucy a list of both minor and major repairs to be done. The shields might have absorbed some damage but that didn't mean the mako took none at all.

"All right," Shepard got up, grabbing his helmet, "Lucy, I want you to work on repairing the shields. Get the mako ready for pickup while Williams, Alenko, and I take care of this rogue V.I."

"What?" Lucy turned in her seat again, "Shepard, I can help. I've built V.I.s, I know computer programming—"

"And this is an Alliance facility," Shepard cut in, his voice stern, "I appreciate the help but you don't have the clearance to enter this building."

"I already know what's going on!" Lucy argued, "A V.I. has gone rogue, hacking the combat drones. What's the harm—"

"The harm is it's still an Alliance facility," Shepard said sharply. Lucy sank back in her seat. She'd seen Shepard grow stern and commanding like this but rarely with a member of the crew.

"It doesn't matter how much you already know about the mission, Wendell," Shepard said, his voice growing hard, "This is still an Alliance facility with Alliance secrets. I cannot allow you inside and we need the mako ready for departure. Stay. Here."

"I..." Lucy's voice was shaking. She'd pushed too far. Without realizing, she'd crossed an invisible line.

"Y-yes sir," Lucy finally said quietly, not able to meet Shepard's eyes, "May I make a suggestion?"

"What is it?" Shepard asked. His voice was softer now, but still held authority. Lucy took this as a sign that it was okay to look up.

"Be careful," Lucy said, "Rogue V.I.s...They can be dangerous, especially if it's not exactly a V.I. anymore."

"You think it might have evolved into an A.I.?" Kaidan asked curiously. Shepard and Ashley both looked skeptical.

"I've...dealt with an awakening A.I. before," Lucy said carefully, hoping they would assume she had to deal with one on one of her colony jobs. Backwater planets were commonplace for illegal A.I. research.

"It'll be frightened and confused," Lucy went on, "If this is an awakened A.I., it might be only trying to protect itself."

"It's still a machine," Ashley said, "A machine that's been killing soldiers."

"After it realized they were trying to destroy it!"

"Enough," Shepard said and Lucy flinched slightly. "I appreciate the concern, but we can handle a V.I. Just get the mako's shields restored."

Lucy nodded and pulled on her helmet, as did the others. She acclimatized the mako's interior to the atmosphere of the moon before clicking the door open. She watched as Shepard, Ashley, and Kaidan grabbed weapons and stepped out onto the moon's surface. Within a few short moments, the three soldiers were inside the facility and Lucy was alone in the mako. She sighed stepping out of the mako herself. She might have a list of the damage on the screen inside but it was always best to have a visual look at what needed to be done.

It turned out to be worse than she had expected. There were several areas of burns in the hull and Lucy saw sparks coming from one of the wheel spokes. Lucy shook her head. There wasn't much she could do now. When they got back to the Normandy, the mako was going to need a lot of repairs. She could already hear Garrus' complaints.

Wanting company, Lucy booted up her private comm and contacted Engineering a she pulled off the spoke from the mako's sparking wheel.

"Engineering," Adams answered.

"Hey, Tali there?" Lucy asked, digging through her tool box until she found the right tool. Looked like the wiring was shredded, she was going to have to do a patch-job.

"She's up in the mess with Garrus," Adams replied, "Anything I can help with?"

Of course she was with Garrus. Tali always found an excuse to be around the turian.

"I was just looking for a chat," Lucy said, "So I don't go crazy down here."

"I'm always willing," Adams said simply, "And sounds like you need it. I'll switch to my private comm."

Lucy hesitated just for a moment, then sighed and figured it would be a good idea. Adams was one of the kindest people Lucy had ever met. If she couldn't share something with Tali, Engineer Adams was just as good.

"Yeah, that would be nice, thanks," Lucy said as she worked on the mako, "I'm doing quick repairs while the others deal with the V.I."

"From that tone, sounds like you're not too happy with that arrangement."

Lucy fidgeted a little. Adams was too good at reading people, even when he couldn't see them.

"I got into a bit of an argument with the commander," she said, "I wanted to help with the V.I. since I've had experiences with them—"

"But the building is an Alliance facility."

"Yeah..." Lucy sighed, "I thought it shouldn't matter because I already knew the mission and I've had experience with V.I.s and A.I.s."

"The Alliance has protocols," Adams said gently, "Commander Shepard may be a Spectre, but he's still Alliance. He will make sure regulation is followed."

"I'm learning that," Lucy said as she replaced the spoke on the mako's wheel, "Things aren't exactly what I expected when I signed up."

"You were expecting some grand adventure like the vids?"

"No!" Lucy said quickly, then pursed her lips and sighed, "At least, I didn't think so. Commander Shepard saved me, saved Feros. I want to help stop Saren. I guess looking back now, it did seem like the Normandy was on an adventure you see on vids."

"Vids and reality rarely line up."

"I'm learning."

"Don't worry so much about it," Adams said, "Everyone has that wake-up call at some point."

That actually made Lucy feel a little better. Knowing she wasn't the only one who went through moments like this was reassuring. Lucy gathered up her tools and stood up, booting up her omni-tool to check the mako's shields.

"I just wish I could help," she said, "I know a lot about V.I.s."

"Just because you can help on something doesn't mean you should," Adams commented, "What you're doing now, getting the mako ready for pickup, is very important. No matter how trivial it seems."

Lucy knew Adams was right. Ever since Lucy had joined the Normandy, any time she was groundside with Shepard she was always in the middle of the action. Saving Liara, dealing with crime bosses, fighting that one asari pirate who turned out to be related to a diplomat on the Citadel...Every time, Lucy had weapon in hand and Drake at her side. She should have known eventually she'd be staying with the mako instead of diving into the fights. She couldn't be in the middle of everything.

Lucy was about to thank Adams as she put her tools back in the mako when she heard a humming from behind her. She slowly turned around to see an Alliance drone hovering near her. And her weapon was in the mako.

"I'll talk to you later, Adams," Lucy said weakly, turning off her comm and watching the drone closely. It didn't seem to be attacking. It simply sat there, almost as if it was watching her.

"Um...hello," Lucy said slowly, "What are you doing out here?"

The drone hummed, moving upwards, then down, and then closer to Lucy. She didn't see any weapons on this one. It was simply surveillance; no danger at all. So what was it doing out here? Why was it approaching her?

She couldn't help but think about Drake. She'd built him from the ground up and helped him grow into the A.I. he now was. She remembered those first few days when he was so confused to what was going on.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Lucy said, holding up her hands for the drone to see.

The drone buzzed loudly, turning red and backing away. Lucy tensed, wondering if she'd done something to make it think she was hostile. She backed up, trying to determine how quickly she could get to her gun when a loud, shrieking burst of static came through her helmet. Lucy cried out, squatting to the ground and trying to cover her ears only to realize she was wearing a helmet and the noise was coming from inside it.

It seemed too long before the static ended, leaving Lucy's ears ringing. She was trembling now as she looked up and saw the drone was now crashed onto the ground. Its activity lights were dark now. It was dead.

As Lucy slowly pulled herself to her feet, Shepard, Kaidan, and Ashley were coming out of the facility. Shepard noticed the drone, then looked to Lucy.

"What happened?" he asked.

"It...Just came up to me," Lucy said slowly, still staring at the destroyed drone. "It wasn't attacking or anything. Everything seemed okay and then there was this burst of static and then it went down."

"That burst of static was when we shut down the V.I.," Shepard said, "The drone must have been linked to it. The static was just interference."

Or a dying scream. Lucy felt sick at the thought, forcing herself to look away from the drone. There must have been something in her stance because Kaidan took a step forward.

"We had to do this, Lucy," he said gently, "The V.I. was rogue."

"You don't honestly feel sorry for a program, do you?" Ashley's voice was bitter. Lucy glared at her.

"It was alive," she said, "Not just a program."

"It was killing soldiers and tried to kill us!"

"To protect itself!"

"Don't start this again!" Shepard snapped, "The V.I. was my call and what happened is on me. The V.I. had gone rogue and needed to be shut down. There is no changing what happened. Now, everyone into the mako."

"Yes, sir."

As the others climbed into the mako, Lucy gave the fallen drone one final look. She knew Shepard was right. The V.I. had been rogue. It should not have been any different than when they fought against geth. It was an A.I. that tried to kill others. Still, as Lucy got into the driver's seat and sealed the mako, she couldn't help but feel like they had destroyed something that was just beginning to live. Now it was gone forever.


End file.
